Steeped In Lies
by JacklynnFrost
Summary: When I was so young I can't fully remember, I was betrothed to an enemy royal to cement our shaky peace after the war between the races, Demons, and Goddesses. Since then, I have lived caged in, locked away from all that is in the world... it was for my own good. But as the truth unfolded and I started to make my own choices, I realized everyone I love is a liar. Art by Lemaskdra!
1. Chapter 1: Clouds

**Steeped In Lies**  
By JacklynnFrost

Beta'd by Sinfulfics and Galfridus- Thank you both for all your help on this fic. This wouldn't be where it is today and I am so grateful to have you to share my silly worlds with.  
Art by LeMaskadra! She's got a blog on Tumblr under her name so check her out if you have a moment! She's done two pieces for this fic!

_**Warnings**_: Some talk of past childhood sexual abuse, which is implied but not explicit.

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Chapter One: Clouds

He isn't coming.

I knew when I was the only one sitting in our over-large dining room. I knew when Ms. Jelamet helped me into my evening hostess dress and when I had chosen my mother's jade necklace to warm my neck. When I had arranged my hair and cleaned my face I knew he would not show. Yet still, after so many disappointments over so many years, my heart squeezes and my throat grows tight as if the wound is fresh.

The air smells of sweet honey, the steam of my tea tickles my nose as I breathe it in to release it in a long rush. Soft tufts of clouds float around my balcony. The bulbous shapes near at an alarming pace, feigning as if they are going to choke the air away yet when they arrive it mists me with cool refreshing breath, giving and not taking.

A cloud reaches in, engulfing me and the railing beads with moisture. I sip my tea. The soothing warmth inside conflicts with the chill licking my skin. My hair flutters. It lifts off my neck and the cold spreads from my exposed nape down my spine in a shiver. I adjust my body so all I can see is the open sky. Clear blue stretches overhead as far as the wing can fly, farther still than the eye can see.

It's said among my people that at the end of the sky another land resides. Stories are abundant about the Heaven Realm. That peace there is so abounding there are no feelings of desolation nor desperation, no desires nor yearnings.

The tea helps the ache, my chest easing but it's empty too early for my liking. I balance the cup on the railing, adjusting it to sit on the stone. The cloud encroaches, surrounding me and I invoke my wings, the ethereal limbs stretching into existence. The breeze tickles between my feathers. Slowly, I breathe in the cold evening mists letting it fill the empty parts of me with _something_ and rise into the air.

Aligning to only see the sky, I imagine my essence ascending to heaven. Where there is only peace. All I can do is pretend I am as empty as my tea cup and as expansive as this cloud hoping to fade into either or both or anything at all. To be absorbed into a greater consciousness to make sense of my life.

"I'm weary of waiting," I speak, wondering if anyone ever listens.

My heart grows too heavy to be lifted and my ascent to heaven is denied once more as my feet tap to the stone as silent as the view around me. My eyes close. _Maybe he's busy._ There does seem to be much to do in a kingdom such as ours and as Lord, it falls to him. Although I am denied helping, my older sisters have duties.

Margaret had been granted her place in the temple at sixteen. I'd been six when she'd left and since then she's fallen in love and married. Veronica had been younger still to earn her place in duty. Fifteen! While I'd been on the cusp of my eighth birthday she had taken down a Wyvern on her own. She'd armored herself, snuck into the night and conquered the beast before the first morning rays graced our clouds. Not through might, but through her cunning. Her and that beast still make overly grand entrances when she wants to provoke someone or intimidate as she rides her pet around.

Then there's me, already an adult and my purpose is to wait and 'enjoy my childhood'. How can I? When Veronica joined the assault squad so young there wasn't a child left in the castle to play with. Outside in the city, my big sister had kept the bullies and the sneers at bay but without her, each of my attempts to make a friend had ended in me playing alone, or worse.

I learned my true purpose in this family from a bully and why my own clan has so little to do with me. I'm a traitor by the very nature of it. A stranger, a cruel older kid knew and I hadn't, but she had been happy to tell me what she knew, to shame me. I am betrothed to an enemy nation royal to cement our shaky peace and yesterday I found out exactly who.

It affects everything. I even wonder if it was the reason I had been adopted to begin with, to spare my sisters the shame I bare. I know I had been a part of this family before it had been determined but the thought nags like a fly circling ripe strawberries. For Veronica and Margaret, for all the children of royals following the end of the war, I can bear it.

But I am done waiting.

My bare feet pad silently across my cool floor and I peer into my bedroom, the door cracked to show my messy bed of blankets and stack of books on the table beside my tossed pillows. I pass it and enter the second door. My personal study. I've taken countless lessons here, the history of my realm, the basics of the war and the other clans. Now I wish I would have insisted on more demon lessons. My knowledge is very limited in that area. I will have to request more material on the subject.

In my study, there are plenty of books, two entire shelves of them. The walls are green, my choice as it reminds me of grass and outdoors, of _freedom_. I love my toes in the grass and walking the garden calms my soul. When everyone else appreciates the red, purple and pink blooms, I like the leaves, stems and turf. I am not permitted to go to the gardens unchaperoned and Jelamet isn't well enough anymore. I'm used to things closing in around me. All I have are the walls and my memories.

I sit and admire the white clouds that fill the window as I gather a piece of paper, a quill and my inkwell.

Traditionally, desks face inward with chairs on either side but I have pressed mine against the window. I never have visitors, especially ones that want to discuss anything intellectually. This way, I have the best view of the nothingness of the sky when I imagine friends and my future. Marrying a demon hadn't been a focus in my imaginings but if it gets me out of this castle for more than a few hours, it might truly be worth it.

As long as he isn't the monster I picture. I shudder, bile rising as I think of thick spikes and the depictions of the war from the old texts. Of dark beasts with evil soulless eyes, oozing flesh and grotesque lolling tongues. Then I think of my nightmare. Of being swallowed whole by the blackness, an opposite of peace and emptiness but of overwhelming, desperate panic. I can't fight it and my chest tightens, my breathing becomes short gasps and my eyes spill over with all the feelings I haven't felt in so long.

Through my tears I wipe snot on my sleeve. I address and start my letter, pausing only to think of the right word and phrase to keep it light. The last thing I want is to start this off on a bad foot or to offend him. Writing him directly is respectable as we are to be joined in marriage but this is as far as I will dare unless expressed otherwise.

_Your Royal Majesty  
Prince Meliodas,_

_Recently it came to my attention that it is you I am to wed._

_To make the transition easier for both of us, I propose a courting._

_If it pleases, would you like to join me for tea midday on the 17th? This letter should allow you entrance at the gate._

_May this find you well,_

_Lady Elizabeth_

I leave out any flowery language and I keep it as short as I can manage. A tear hits the edge and I swipe it away, glad I didn't smudge any ink. I leave it to dry and go to my side bookshelf. I find my decorative ceramic statue of a colorful cat holding up a book as if reading.

When I'd been a preteen I had dropped the gaudy thing. The colors on the beast are absurd, it looks like a peacock and a lion had a deformed baby. But, regardless of how I feel about its appearance, it had broken in the most perfect of ways. I lift her head, reaching into the hollow center to retrieve a couple of gold coins. With the ugly cat back together, I fan at the letter to dry the words, searching for a seal, or an envelope.

The sun is still up but I don't have enough time left in the day to reach the city for a public messenger. A royal one can do the job but it will be on their time and I can't trust them, not with my father's meddling. Besides, I have a boy who always delivers my messages to Margaret and he needs the coins for his younger siblings.

My dress is pocketless so I fold the envelope and tuck it into the waist-elastic of my pants under the fabric for safe keeping. The coins are tucked in my cleavage as no one would dare search me in such a private area. My father's punishment to anyone who touches me in any inappropriate way is skewed and extra aggressive after what happened with Master Twigo in my childhood.

Without many eyes, I stroll out the front doors of the castle and take to the streets just beyond the courtyard before a guard calls out to me. "Lady Elizabeth!" He yells as he drops from the sky in a rush of wind, "Where is your escort?" I flush hot and wish I could bolt but the man sighs in his full body armor to glower at me as if I am still a child forgetting such basic protocols.

"Sorry, Dale." I hush to him while his shrewd eyes look for anything out of place. "I was just going to visit Mead. I haven't seen him in a while and I heard his youngest sister is ill. I wanted to take a look." I lie smoothly. He is halfway to no when I let my shoulders droop and I peer up at him with a plea, "I haven't left the castle in three weeks." I'm honest this time.

He blinks, scowls and waves his hand forward for me to 'go'.

I am too hopeful that he will allow me passage without an escort and I feel that light elation shrivel inside with each of Dale's heavy sabatons clanking while he follows. The people of the city turn at the noise but their lingering gazes are because of me, a rare sight out in the open. Perhaps I should have removed my receiving gown before coming into the city? It doesn't matter, I know now why the mothers always call their children back when playing too near me. The whispers of, "promised to the enemy," have much more meaning now that I know it's a demon I am to be with.

Enemy nation had so many possibilities but as of yesterday, when Father showed me the missive from the Demon King himself, things seem to have changed so much when they hadn't truly changed at all.

If I were them and I knew one of my own was to live among the demons, beside the Demon King himself, would I feel as if it would be safer to not be involved? Thinking about it made me feel better. As if I understood the coldness from my clan, why things stop moving when I arrive. Life stops and I want it to go, I'm going to make it go. I turn down a thin alleyway toward the home of my friend, Mead. Dale and I walk the rest of the way without many onlookers. I knock on the plank door and a girl answers. Her dress is torn at the hem, her brown hair cow licked in the front to stand tall and her wide brown eyes crinkle in joy. Dale positions himself at the side of the door, at the ready and I frown at him.

"Ady 'isabets." Mabel lisped, smiling as she tugs me inside. Mabel is the youngest and still has a hard time grasping her speech. The door shuts as I take in the little place. Worn rug, table with stools and mismatched chairs, a sitting area with pillows and blankets and scattered toys.

Mead's parents died three years ago and although Mead had been ten at the time he still took on all four of his siblings. He works hard at any job he can get and he does well enough to keep them cared for. The oldest sister swarms first. Millie had lost her front tooth and she beams at me, telling me, "a fairy was going to leave me a teddy for my tooth but he forgot it so had to go back for it." I smile at her gap.

"Even if it takes a few extra days, it means the bear has been on a journey!" I laugh, happier in this overfull room than I've been in days. Her hair is golden but her eyes are the same brown as the lot of them.

Markle and Mae rush from their game on the floor, Mae knocking the pieces and Markle quickly turns to push her to the floor. "You did that because I was winning!" He accuses and her face is vicious as she pounces from the floor to attack him from behind. They both cut their brown hair wicked short but Mae still finds something to grip as she wrenches his head to the side before he body-slams backward on top of her. Mead ignores them as this is normal for the twins.

"You hot?" Mead whispers and I nod. He clapped "Attention!" the four kids shift and move to stand in a row. "Show the lady the songs you've each been working on." The four of them start singing their _own_ song. Millie a rendition of our ceremonial fight song. Markle a choppy version of the Entrance to the Sky piece, one of my favorites but I will reconsider after hearing this version. Mae hums and Mabel warbles strange cat noises then roars like a dinosaur unexpectedly.

My laughter joins the climbing noise, the siblings trying to outdo one another before Mead huddles in expectantly. I recover quickly.

"I need a letter delivered to Prince Meliodas, by hand, Demon Territory," I whisper fast as I realize the Entrance to the Sky piece has reached its midpoint. Mead hisses through his teeth in apparent apprehension. I start digging into my bosom and he watches, tilting before I scowl at the boy. He blushes decently and turns away. I give him every piece I acquired from the cat.

"It's a day's journey there, another back. I can't leave this lot alone." I agree with Mead, looking over the younglings.

"They are invited to the castle." I grin, imagining the chaos they will bring to break my monotony.

"Must be important." He holds out his hand for the letter and I groan, bending to gather my dress up and unhooking the letter from my pants underneath.

"I don't want more rumors than there already are," I confess. "Besides, if he refuses I'll be humiliated and I don't want that plastered throughout the kingdom and beyond." I can imagine this Prince Meliodas not wanting to be in the same room with me either.

The song stops, the cat noises turn to tears and Millie picks up Mabel, the new noise replaces the intentional one. Mead agrees and swipes the envelope with Meliodas' name meticulously written on the front. In a rush, he pockets the coins, all in different strange places. Under his left armpit, behind his neck, and into his shoe. He hides his coin, I understand- I have to do the same.

"It'll be hard to hand-deliver this to the prince himself." He warns, calling out to his siblings to pack for an overnight stay at the castle. "Take care of them, will'ya?" He requests, addressing me but angles to their backs as they rush to their bedrooms. There are two, one for the boys and one for the girls. Subtly, I check to make sure they have enough food in their kitchen, glad to see fresh vegetables and I note then to send the kids home with armfuls of goodies.

Dale is _not_ pleased but holds his tongue as I make my way back home with four loud additions. They all pile in my bed that night and pass out with stuffed bellies.

* * *

This is my submission for NNT Big Bang! (On Tumblr)  
I was paired with LeMaskadra and her art can be found on her blog- She's helped me with my fic and it was wonderful working with her.

Readers- Enjoy and let me know what you think. :) I broke out of the box for this and I'm a little nervous.


	2. Chapter 2: A Cup of Tea

Chapter Two: A Cup of Tea

A chill tickles over my flesh, gooseflesh spreads like a plague and I turn from the open field of wild grass and clean air to see the encroaching darkness. It rolls in like thunderclouds, dark, ominous, and all consuming. The roar of its approach promises terror. Flecks of sparking power erupt like bombs, the ground shakes underfoot and I await it. Frozen in the face of it. I know it will plow me over, suck me down, _kill me._

The trembling starts, a soft vibration from my bones that transcends to my joints, my skin and inside my torso like a thousand enraged bees. I wobble, my vision blurs as I stare uselessly into the growing miasma. My body grows slick. I can hear my breathing, labored and too fast, but I feel like I am suffocating, drowning, while my lungs struggle.

"Run!" I whisper to myself as if the low volume will keep me hidden from the darkness already zeroing in on me.

Cold blankets the world around me, my sweat turns to sharp stabs of ice, my trembling turns to shivers and I'm frozen in place. A roar, a tortured animal's howl erupts from the center of the murky nebula. The noise echoes in my chest, long and frantic like remnants of those that had been sucked in before me, its victim's pleas. I don't understand if it wants me to come into it, to accept my fate and join that beast inside or to run, to fight.

I know what is coming. My panting stops as the _blazing star of the night_ arises.

A twisted sphere emanates gloom and cracks larger and larger, growing with sparks of purple hissing bolts until it breaks out of the shadows. It comes for me. I feel myself slip out of my body just as the darkness snakes out around the orb. The blazing star moves to engulf me, caressing my face. It feels as if hands form from the gloom and wipes my frozen tears from my cheeks but there is no comfort in it as I am lifted out of reality and into the expanse of the night. Space, endless bounds of _nothing _and I float in the disturbance. My heart races, violently thumping against my rib cage and I look for the exit, knowing there is a way to end this.

I refuse!

I'm already caught but somehow, from the bottom dregs of my courage, I choose to fight. I thrash, reaching, kicking and screaming until I start to fall. I am sucked back into my body like a vortex and for a moment, light and images stretch into infinity where the darkness consumes it all. But I've escaped this time. Gravity drags me against the grain. Sandpaper rather than the silk of the shadows.

Solid ground slams into the back of my head and I groan, opening my eyes to see moonlight beaming a line through my curtains onto the ceiling of my bedroom. My legs, bent at the knees still on my mattress, are tangled in my blanket and I feel the back of my head with tenderness. "_Ow_." The nape of my neck and hair is wet with sweat and my groan fills the silence. My healing light glowing to leave my skull unmarred from my fall. Shadows of the night jolt my abused heart as the furniture cast their outlines from my own light.

"_Useless._" I mutter to myself and rub on my chest to lessen the weight I feel pressing down over me.

I must have had that dream again. I can't remember but with my heart pounding and my body soaked, it makes sense that the star of the night must have taken me again. It's been years since I've had anyone to go to at this hour and the thought of my own company sours my stomach. My limbs feel heavy as I tug them free from the bunched blankets. I roll, coming to a stand and I stretch out in an attempt to get my trembling to calm. The low temperature is alarming, especially for the season but an overly hot bath will fix me.

The water soothes my body but my mind remains alert in my agitation. A creak has my spine stiffening, a plop in the water steals my breath and I try to focus on anything else, something positive. With soap in my hair while I trail the rag soothingly across my flesh to chase the chill away- I realize what day it is. My stomach twists, the rag slips and drops into the water. My calm heart, after minutes of coaxing it steady, races anew. I close my eyes, sagging until my head slips under the water, the warmth overtaking me and I feel that suffocation again, my inability to breathe with my lungs struggling.

I scream, silently. Bubbles erupt up through the bathwater as I strain my lungs to their farthest extent. In the last desperate moments of sloshing my hips and gripping the sides to hold myself under, I raise, gasping in a breath, and push my hair from my face.

"This is what you want, Elizabeth." I pep myself as I grip the edge of the porcelain tub and note my pale knuckles straining from the sheer force. My towel on the seat beside the tub is soaked, along with the floor from my thrashing. '_Great.'_ I bend my head to rest on my hand and pinch my eyes closed in prayer as I repeat a mantra. '_This too shall pass.'_ Slowly, I step out. I don't care where I drip as I already made a disaster of my bathroom.

With a peek out my window I notice that morning has come. The sun has risen, again. My temple throbs and I rub my fingers into it in slow circles to massage a touch of comfort into myself. '_It's just the dream, Elizabeth.'_ I repeat_. _If I want to keep my energy up I need to try to eat in spite of the nervous jolts sparking in my tummy. I go to my closet already knowing what I will wear. I selected it days ago.

With a little arranging, I remove the dress and toss it across my bed, doubling back to the bathroom to clean up the mess. I have a heap of sopping towels on the floor and I frown, hoping Jelamet won't be too angry with me. I need her help to get ready.

I exit the bathroom, unable to erase the disorder I have inflicted. With a grimace, I slip on a simple dress to prepare for the casual morning I face. I'm tense, tight and I feel as if I am waiting for a blow- one that never comes but constantly threatens me.

My steps are as quiet as the walls, making no impact, here or any other place I exist in. I step into the dining room, spotting my prepared plate with no other on the long slab of shining glazed tabletop. My chin quivers but I poke my tongue across the inside of my bottom lip to hold it steady. With my food already here, I've missed the only company I'll have in this big empty room. I sit, heavy as I look down the rows of perfectly aligned chairs then across the centerpiece of fresh red flowers and unlit candles.

The walls are a deep purple on the upper half and the bottom half is dark wood with etches of the stars. I hate purple. It's the saddest color. Tears well in my eyes and I look up to hold them in. The twinkling light fixture dances from the rows of windows at my back that let in the sun. It's silly how after years of this being my assigned seat I automatically gravitate here when, just on the other side, I could look out at the world rather than stare at the wall. But my plate is always placed here, I am a slave to my own habit, to my father's expectations.

A portrait hangs on the wall over the head of the table to my right and I look it over. A family that has long since evolved past the broad, easy smiles. My mother in her pale-haired beauty, Margaret is almost a mirror of her while Veronica took after our father with his hair its original color, having not grayed yet when this had been commissioned. I am in the center, a sore thumb of silver hair and blue eyes among the matching sets on either side of the tiny version of me.

I focus back on my food and I manage a few bits of fruit, savoring the sweet juices. Mid-bite, a knock sounds on the door and my heart soars. Father? I stand, straightening my dress and wishing I had taken some care with myself now that I have company. The door creaks open and the spot of gray hair that dips in has my throat closing with overwhelming emotion, as I know it isn't him. She's hunched, her pinched face always looks sour but I know only half of her face moves the way she wants it to. Even her smile looks like a grimace.

"Another night terror, dear?" Jelamet asks, pushing the door open and stoppers it. My chest muscles relax and I breathe easier.

"The angelica herb didn't work," I tell her, frowning. She knew from a glance and I marvel at how well she knows me. I stand with my plate of food, intent to follow her to the kitchens. Before I leave the dining room, I gather the red bouquet in my free hand, saving the blossoms from their fate of dying alone.

"Where will you be taking your tea, dear?" Jelamet asks, grabbing my plate from me when we stop outside the doors of the kitchen. Wherever I choose will need to be prepped and Zaneri and Jennah are most likely waiting for the order.

"Margaret's balcony, I think," I request and the old woman goes into the warm room, calling out to the two girls chatting inside. The bay window from Margaret's sitting room faces the balcony and Jelamet will have a full view of us, as a chaperone, inside but away. Plus, I can watch the gate for when he arrives as it overlooks the main entrance. I don't know what he looks like but I would be able to tell when a demon arrives, wouldn't I? Unless he has enough power to conceal himself completely.

The morning wears on and Jelamet returns. My hands are shaking when I take her arm to assist her as we move, she leans heavier while we go up the stairs. Mael passes us, quipping a pleasant '_good morning'_. She returns it just as kindly. The old lady on my arm is breathing slightly labored, so I slow. When we turn down the way that leads to my hall of empty rooms, I smile knowing there isn't a need to rush when you have nowhere to go.

"Do you know anything about demons?" I puzzle, looking at the side of her crinkling face. Her lips purse in contemplation but only one cheek wrinkles up, the other remains sagged.

"What I know about demons will curl your toenails but that was long, _long_ ago." Her voice is low and careful and I nod, accepting her words. She grips my forearm when we reach my hall and I look toward Margaret's rooms. The double doors are already open. Jennah and Zaneri must be tidying already. I suppose arriving before us wouldn't be difficult.

Inside my bedroom, Jelamet shuffles away to gather some things from the bathroom while I give the flowers a new home beside my bed. When finished, I pull off my day dress and toss it carelessly away. For my special guest, I have chosen my blue dress, with no frills or extras, just a small flower on either of my shoulders where the sleeves are cut to show off my arms. This dress reaches my calves, wavy and lose from my waist down but form-fitting from there up. Although the scoop neck is nice, it is more modest than I usually go for in regards to my chest but I want to be at my best. I unhook the dress from its hanger and position it to step in. I pull it over my shoulders before I finger comb my hair. It had dried wavy without me fussing with it and I like how buoyant it feels.

With my luck, he'll be a blob monster and I won't have to worry one iota if my chest is covered well enough or if my hair lays nice. I roll my eyes as Jelamet comes out huffing and ha'ing. "You are a grown woman and can't bathe without splashing around like a whale in heat? Every. Single. Time." I flush, instantly embarrassed at the self-drama I've partaken in this morning. She twirls her finger. I obey her unspoken command and spin to show her my back. She buttons me up while muttering about extra laundry loads and how I can't sit still.

"I'm sorry," I warble to her and her fingers slow.

"No, no, dear girl. It's just some water." Jelamet comforts and when the last button is clasped she guides me to my jewelry table. I skip the necklaces and bracelets, wanting to be bare but I decide on my star and moon orb earrings. She starts to pull up my hair but I dip away and ask if I can keep it down. "Flowers then, to draw the eye."

Do I want to draw the eye? No.

I rise to do as she suggests and starts pulling buds off the Amaryllis blooms of the bouquet I took. When I return I have the task of pushing hairpins through the receptacle of each flower. "I tried to save you," I tell them, "but you'll be put to use and keep me company while I wait." Rather than a band of flowers, I pin them all on the left side of my head bunched together in one grouping as if it is half a headband.

With something to do with my hands, I calm, finding my center. Jelamet's cough draws my attention. It goes on in a long hack until I can't take it, I rise to find her in my bathroom to pat her back with healing taps of my light. The strain eases and I watch her for any changes.

"You are the crown jewel of our people, Elizabeth." She tells me, her wet eyes shine as she looks me over with pride. I try to smile but dismiss it mid-attempt. "Oh, don't you give me another thought. You'll be fine."

There isn't much left to do in my room but I make her sit while I finish up the rest. I do all her assigned duties, I clean and arrange while she talks of my younger days to fill the silence. "After tea, I'll help you polish too, so don't go on without me," I tell her and hear her grumble but she doesn't deny me. At the end of doing her chores, Zaneri knocks to remind me of the time. I flush. Had Jelamet kept me busy on purpose? She kept my mind off my nerves. Her grimace-smile flashes when I narrow my eyes at her wrinkled face.

Zaneri professes she'll escort my guest to Margaret's rooms as I help Jelamet to stand.

My older sister's rooms are perfect. The doors are all open giving peeks to her strict organization and elegant tastes. Everything personal has been removed long ago when she'd moved to the temples. In the sitting room I position Jelamet to face the window and with a crooked finger she points to a book on the mantle over the empty fireplace. I collect it for her, asking if she's comfortable and prolonging the inevitable walk to the balcony. From here I can see the round wrought iron table and the tray of tea with the pot still corked to keep in the heat. I dread having to sit there and wait again.

"Leave me be, girl. You'll be fine." Jelamet scolds softly when I offer to get her a blanket. I sigh heavily as she squeezes my hands in hers as if lending me the little strength she has. At the end of Margaret's hall, I open the doors that lead to the balcony and prop them both wide in invitation.

A few steps across the balcony and I stop to close my eyes and focus on breathing steadily. Mead confirmed a hand delivery and even showed me the five extra gold pieces the Demon Prince had given him as a tip. He'd been generous in his gratitude, a quality I value. Even if he is a dragon scaled humanoid with sharp vicious teeth, he might be nice on the inside. He doubled Mead's profits. I had expected a letter from Lord Meliodas, confirming his attendance but none had come. I suppose demons will not know what is expected in a courting, or the invitation went ignored and I should be preparing myself for a letdown.

Comfort comes from the thought of being stood up, it's something I know how to handle. I ignore the seats, pry my eyes open to watch the gate and walk across the clean stone to stand at the railing. The sky is clear in its infinite blue and though I miss the clouds I am grateful the view is unobscured. I watch the square houses and markets below with all the little dots crowded and walking but never bumping into one another.

I lean forward on my tippy toes, hands on the rail as I look straight down. The bushes below hide the path there, the one that goes all around the castle. When inside a person can't be seen from the outside but I can look into the windows of the first floor of the castle if I pull myself up on the window ledges. As a child, my sisters would take me on the path and we thought we were so naughty, getting away with sneaking out and back in. I smile, rolling my eyes at us. We had listened below many cracked windows with that trick.

Life had been happy here when they had been around. The silence moved in after Veronica made her own path in life, her stubborn determination took her from me too soon. I flush, feeling shame at my envy. I'm glad she could leave and truly happy that she can make her own choices.

The sun is high and the gate doesn't open, the guards never escort anyone to the castle.

"It's what I should expect," I whisper in the wind, easing into the familiar feeling of dismissal, of being brushed to the side. Has he forgotten about me too? My hair catches in the breeze and one of my flowers dislodges from the flapping locks, leaving me behind. "Be free," I hush to the blossom as I watch it float, spin, and then vanish around the edge of the castle wall. Somberly my eyes fill as I wish, with every last desperate inch of my soul, that I could float away with the Amaryllis. Tears fall, slowly and steadily.

My fate is here, to wait for others who never give me a second thought.

"Elizabeth?" A deep voice queries. Stunned, I spin, feeling as if for a blink of a second, my wish is granted and the wind _has_ blown me away.

"You came," I marvel. My hands shake as I wipe my tears away, embarrassed. He doesn't look like I imagined, not even a little. All my thoughts had circled around monsters and mini-versions of the three-eyed king. Of all my wild speculations, I never entertained the idea that he might be handsome. From his blonde chaotic locks, clear green eyes and blank angled face to the fit lines of his shirt covered torso and simple loose slacks over his black shoes, he exudes confidence. As if he guarantees his own place in the world and knows, single-mindedly, what he wants. In spite of being a bit shorter than me, I am intimidated, as I have no direction in life.

We stare until he shakes his head, his hair tousles in the movement.

"Of course," he hums softly, "you asked me here." As if my request is all it takes to summon him. I frown, my brow tenses as I watch him look me over. He's slow and I shift, uncomfortable. I wonder if what he imagined of me is anything close to what I am. For a long breath he stares at my bare feet and self consciously I tuck one behind the other before I walk toward the table already set for our tea.

I don't look at him, just motion with my hand for him to take his seat. I stand before the table as I pour us each a cup. The steam rises and I can tell from the smell that Lavender and Chamomile have been steeping. What a wonderful choice. "Honey or milk?" I ask, setting a spoon on his saucer before I repeat the motions with my own. As I work with my hands, the activity lets me refocus, but I can feel his eyes burning into me.

"No," he hushes, moving closer without tapping across the stone, "thank you," he finishes. I give him a small dip of my head in a show of respect as I note his shoes. They are cloth, the black is deceptive and its design hides it well. No wonder I hadn't heard him walk down Margaret's hall. I move, sit first and I take a spoon of sugar for my own cup, stirring it in. I watch the amber liquid swirl and the grains dissolve. "You've grown since we last met," he notes.

"I didn't know we'd met before." I am curious about this new information and we meet gazes. His green eyes don't leave mine as he takes his seat, his hands come up on the table to wrap around his cup. I look down at mine, doing the same before I sip at the warm calming liquid as he continues.

"You were five, so I understand if you don't remember." His voice is nice, like smooth velvet wiping a messy chalkboard clean. I nod as if agreeing with his explanation but I worry as I have other memories younger than five. Wouldn't meeting my future husband been important or stand out in my mind? Perhaps I hadn't been told at the time or hadn't understood?

"How old were you?" I question, looking up to see him still looking at me.

"Fourteen." He answers, cradling his cup as he takes a sip. His face is blank, a solid neutral and I am not sure if he likes the taste. The flavor is one of my favorites and I hope to have something so simple in common with him. The commonality of the arranged marriage is too big a concept to connect over. I need a baby step.

I place my cup on its saucer, remove the spoon but hold the handle while resting my arm on the tablecloth. "Were you... chosen for this at random?" I ask and risk another glance up. It can't be a coincidence that I am catching him watching me every time. He must like eye contact but I can't maintain it for long, the moss green of his orbs seem to catch me and pull me into something.

"Chosen for what?" He is so at ease and I hope he doesn't notice my discomfort.

"The arranged marriage?" I shift in my seat under his stare until I reach my limit and focus on the blue floral design of the teapot between us. "It doesn't make sense for me, a royal of the demon clan's enemy nation, to be in a position for the crown. At the time of the negotiations, we had _lost thoroughly_, our side wouldn't have had any leverage to demand our union and the more I think about it, the more I want to know what happened back then." I gesture with a flopped wave between us, "how we happened."

"Huh." He breathes, as if discovering something. He takes another sip of his tea, casual. I look into him. I expect an answer but he seems content to just look on blankly.

"You were there, do you remember? Or, am I right, we were the _unlucky_ names pulled from either side of the war?" Finally, Meliodas looks away. He takes in the view of the city and I bite my lip as he shrugs, not answering me beyond that. Did his nose flare? He either doesn't know, didn't question it before or doesn't want to tell me. _Fine._ The clang of my cup as it shakes in its cradle alerts me to my hands quaking and I release the poor fragile thing. I fold my fingers together in my lap to hide them.

The silence grows, I scratch at my nails as the awkwardness spreads but with him relaxing back I fear I am the only one to feel it.

"Your letter said you had recently found out you were to be married to me." He mentions, for a bitter moment I think I will simply 'shrug and look at the view' to give him a spoonful of what he'd fed me but the ire passes. Technically he isn't asking me anything but I know it is his attempt to start up our conversation again.

"I knew I was to be married to another nation's lord," I demur before looking down. I find the indent in my knuckle fascinating, a fine enough distraction. "It was after my father gave me the last missive from the Demon King- Oh, uh," I grow warm as I realize my blunder and I look at him in panic as I squeak out an apology. He doesn't seem angry. He doesn't have any reaction at all. "When '_his Majesty'_ demanded progress on our union, my father told me I am to marry a demon prince. I hadn't known which, whether it would be you or Lord Zeldris, until I read the missive myself."

That's when he has a reaction, he winces, hissing through his teeth but the expression passes just as quickly as it comes.

"You never questioned where the gifts came from?" He asks, "none of the notes were included?"

I frown, face pinching in confusion. He can read me well enough and leans forward in his seat, I instantly lean back to keep the same distance between us. "I've never... You've sent gifts?" I wonder, baffled. I watch him for any sign of misunderstanding.

"Books, letters, things I've found interesting over the years and once an entire set of mounted butterflies from the demons' territories." I love butterflies. I'd chased them around the meadow when Jelamet had been well enough to take me every couple months as a child. Father always demanded every guard available to attend us when we'd go. It had been less than a five-minute fly but he'd always been like that, with me in particular, since childhood.

"Oh." My hand covers my mouth to hide my surprise and annoyance. I turn in my chair to look through the bay windows. Jelamet is still where I left her, her gray head is limp, tilted back and her mouth hangs open in obvious sleep. I can practically hear the old bat's snores. I shift back to focus on him again and I promise, softly, "I'll figure out what happened to it all, now that I know it exists, or, existed."

With another sip, he places his cup down, empty. His eyebrows are lowered but with his eyes set in such a relaxed way I still can't grasp any emotions from him. Is he trying to be expressionless?

"Would you like another?" I motion to the pot and I take his silence to mean yes as he continues staring. I stand, stepping closer to arrange the kettle, holding the lid as I pour him another. Since I am already doing it, I top mine off as well. The steam is barely a trickle and I curb my disappointment. "Do you like it?" I nudge my head to indicate the drink and the corner of his lips twist up as he puts the cup to his full lips. When the teacup is pulled away, they are slick and shining.

I sit the teapot down, stepping back to my side of the table and adjusting my dress with a swoop of the fabric to take my seat again. He must, but he doesn't tell me. Maybe he doesn't like talking? He likes looking though and I grow uncomfortable under his ogling. At least I can conclude he isn't disappointed in my body. I shakily gather my own cup as I feel the same about his form.

A bird tweets and I watch it swoop through the air, flying to the railing to perch. "I brought talking points." Meliodas draws my attention back and I watch as he pulls a slip of paper from his pocket. He looks them over before his eyes are drawn back up to mine and I sniff humorously.

"Let me see," I grin, holding my hand out with my palm up over the table. His lips part a fraction, the only sign he's heard me as he stares blankly but his green eyes darken. After a few heartbeats, the back of his hand skims over my fingertips as he places the paper in mine. A warm tingle spreads at the contact and after he pulls away lingeringly, my skin still feels him. As if he's left behind an imprint of himself on my flesh.

Shakingly, I gather the paper to me, holding it under the table to read and hide my nervous reaction. There are a few notes to himself. 'Ask questions', 'don't lie' and 'learn her languages', I am not sure what the last one means but I smile at the first set of reminders. The rest are cute topics. 'Favorite foods?' 'Best childhood memory' 'What does she like to do?' and 'What does she want to do but hasn't yet?'

The last one slices through my growing tenderness, right to my core. Wounded, my mind hounds me with all the things in life I haven't done, being trapped in this castle as I always am. '_Oh, the poor princess'_, I mock my own drama. My throat squeezing, my chest grows tight and I swallow thickly. I lift the note to place next to the teapot, dragging my hand away to my cup. I bring it to my lips and ease my tension through the liquid. After I breathe easier I tell him, at just above a whisper, "I like to read."

"What genre?" He matches my tone, his eyes still on me and I notice his canines above and below are pointed. When he's spoken his white teeth have drawn my eye. It had been one of my fears, rows of sharp teeth, but with only four they suite him. I hadn't even noticed at first, they are so subtle.

"Anything, Adventure is my favorite. I like to be-" I shake my head. He won't want to know that being someone brave and strong for the few hours it takes me to finish a novel entices me. I can be someone else, can go anywhere and conquer anything when drawn into the written world. If it is printed on the pages, it comes to life for me. It's all the life I have. I shake my head, "What do you like to do?"

He sips his tea, seeming to think about it as he looks to the flowers in my hair. "I like to fight, to learn new techniques and master them." My gaze shifts to his arms, his shirt is looser but usually I can tell which is a person's sword arm by the firmer muscles. Unless he means hand to hand and not with a weapon? I open my mouth to ask but he beats me to it, "and the other questions?" I frown, reminded again of the last question.

"Strawberries," I hush to him. Growing warm when he grins. "Any way. Fresh or baked in a pie. Once a long time ago I had the best strawberry tart with the fluffiest sweet cream on top and honestly, nothing has lived up to it since." He leans forward, his elbows on the table as his chest rumbles and he makes 'nish, nish' noises through his nose with his lips tipped up. He's... _laughing_. I smile, resting my elbows as I wrap my fingers around my cup, easing.

"You like sweets then." He notes and I watch his eyes crinkle in joy, nodding my affirmation. "Next time I'll bring you something you might like. I've never come across its rival and I've traveled just about every place at this point." I suppose with being Lord he can. How different our lives are glare obvious before me and I frown, leaning away. I take my tea cup with me to sip, watching the liquid move.

"What's your favorite food?" I ask my tea, shaking my head to stop the nagging insistence that I'll always be anchored. Heirs are expected in an arranged marriage, to cement the allegiance our blood is to mix as it isn't truly me they want, but my womb. I'll be raising children in another castle, Meliodas will dictate my whereabouts then. From my father's cooking pan into demon's fire.

"Ale." He quips and I look up, startled. He's blank-faced again, so I can't tell if he's serious but he's leaning back in his chair again, teacup empty. "There's this Ale, it's only served in Bernia. I'm sure you've been, it's the closest town to here." He waves a hand while I stare, my lungs suddenly not getting enough air. "Next time you go, try it. It has an apple sweet aftertaste." Rather than agree, as he wrote not to lie and I didn't want to either, I offer to pour him another cup. He takes the pot himself, pouring it, sparing me having to get up again. I know there is nothing left as the last drops drips slowly from the spout. Our time is coming to an end.

I find myself staring at the teapot in disdain. But not because of Lord Meliodas in particular. He is fine in a standoff, distant way, but once he leaves I will fall back into my empty rooms where all I have to look forward to is Jelamet's muttering complaints of her old bones and failing body. I've read through every adventure in our library and I suppose I can revisit a favorite but this is something new. It's a marvel to actually have tea with someone who wants to talk to me.

The last of my tea slips down and I lick my lips, arranging my cup on its saucer with care before I wrap myself in a hug and hold my own elbows over my waist.

"What's something you've always wanted to do?" He inquires, I try not to react but a phantom hand ghosts up from my stomach to grip at my heart from the inside. I should have asked him about his childhood first but that question seems just as punishing as he will no doubt ask it of me after.

Something simple. Think of something simple.

"To try Bernia ale." I joke, opening my eyes to stare into his. He's blank again, his jawline catches my eye and I follow it down over his Adam's apple. He has nice skin. With that face, he probably doesn't have a problem attracting women and I wonder briefly about fidelity following our nuptials. A woman is required to be loyal but every royal man I've met had rumors following them, maids fired and concubines hidden in wings of the house as 'art buyers' with their own stipends. Veronica knows everything and usually scandalously whispers what she knows about a person after they'd come to our castle. Since she's here sporadically she still does it. It's a ritual now, as if her mission in life is to catch me up on everything I miss going on in the rest of the world.

"Right." He's kind, not pushing.

"How about you?" I am expecting the same type of answer I have given. A guarded but truthful desire, yet he pauses, sipping as if to give himself more time to think.

"There is something," he starts, smooth and thoughtful but I can see the moment he changes his mind, the corners of his eyes tensing. "I would like to table this question, to answer it later. Will you, too?" He requests and I nod, glad he hasn't treated me how I had treated him.

"Do you fight with a sword?" I wonder, afraid he'll ask his last question before his cup empties.

"Not when I fight for sport." He grimaces. "A sword is to kill. My brother and I will raise arms against one another as we know the other's limits but no, I don't fight with a sword, not in the way you're imagining." I suppose the fights in my adventure books are dramatized and they are always life and death.

"It's a sport?" I guess, "so it's something I could watch some time?" The smile that spreads over his lips is unstoppable, crows feet crinkle by his eyes. He's very handsome in his joy. He must truly relish in the hobby he's chosen.

"Absolutely." He answers and a tiny sliver of dangerous hope cracks into the hollow view of my future. Perhaps Lord Meliodas won't keep me locked away? Even if it is just one outing here and there, I won't complain. He blanks again, palming his cup, "We'll have to go before I become king. After I doubt there will be any time to spare."

The sliver of a spark ignites and I nod. Even if it's a limited time adventure, I'll love a few memories of the world. Something nags in my mind and I look him over, he sips his tea, his eyes on the cut of my sleeve.

"Sir Meliodas?" I ask and his eyes meet mine in pleasant surprise. I flush, realizing I haven't said his name before. "Excuse me for this but..." I decide against it, looking away, "Never mind."

"No." He croons gently, as if coaxing a wounded bird from its perch. "Please, it's fine."

I hold my own hands over my lap, looking everywhere but at him, until finally, I breathe deep to gather my nerves. "It just seems..." I'm determined as I meet his emerald eyes, "Excuse me but, do you want to take the throne?"

He finishes his drink, arranging the cup on its saucer as I had, his eyes at my neck climbing ever higher with their constant search of my body. "It doesn't matter what I want, it is my fate."

The gap between us shrinks to nothing. He is worldly, confident and so sure of his place in the world but he's stuck too. He has a path laid for him to a destination he hasn't chosen.

"I know what it's like to be caught in a trap," I reply, bleak and lost. His breath catches in a sudden halt but I resist looking. I'm sure he simply realized the time or snagged his clothing on something. The hand inside me doesn't grip at my heart, it vanishes, as a cool hollowness fills me and I don't feel anything at all. I stand, supporting myself with the table until my footing is solid and I turn to Jelamet. She's sunk further into the cushions, arm over her eyes as if to block out the troublesome light. "I'll walk you out if you want." I offer, stepping back as the breeze plays at the edges of me.

He doesn't move and with effort, I drag my gaze to his. As soon as they meet, he nods and stands. After he pushes his chair in he offers me his arm and I reach for it. I shake the closer I get, my brain fizzing in... something. I frown, frozen in my outstretched position. Perhaps a bit of memory is still in this fuzzy brain because getting nearer to him, it feels familiar in a strange sense.

"It's okay." Sir Meliodas reassures. His arm drops and mine follows to rest at my own side. We stand, facing one another and the wind tousles his chaotic hair. A series of tweets sounds, the bird has returned and I steady myself. I lead, our feet silent down the hall and it unnerves me as it is always me alone in my vacuum of quiet. "Your rooms are very neat." He notes and I scoff.

"These are my sister Margaret's rooms," I confess to him and as we turn down the next hall, he's beside me, his face angled to mine. I point to my closed doors, "Those are mine." He looks away, roaming the walls and doors before facing forward again. We exit the wing, alone, as we head through the main hall.

"Where is everyone?" He murmurs. I frown, looking over at him in confusion. "Shouldn't there be guards, maids, and attendees rushing around?" Do other castles have that?

"The guards are outside," I answer. "Inside there's Jelamet for me, she's slept through your visit, excuse her. Jennah is my father's and Zaneri helps them both." I shrug, "it's only father and I, plus the house so three is enough. They rotate which rooms they do and who cooks, so things are always attended too."

"What about tutors and companions?" Sir Meliodas continues and I flush, my hands coming to my heart.

"I'm too old for tutors," I explain, not wanting to talk about this as the image of the room our childhood tutor had traumatized the three of us in flashes in my mind. "I had a companion once, his father made him play with me but after I figured out... when I realized..." I tuck my hair back, grateful for the front door coming into view across our grand entranceway.

"Realized what?" He sounds curious as if trying to understand rather than judge.

"He wasn't my real friend." I continue. "I only have one, outside of Jelamet." I explain, the void swirls and I ease into the nothingness. I zone out and my hands fall away as the effort to protect myself isn't worth the energy it requires. "You've met him."

"When?" His hand comes up to scratch at the side of his head. "Who?" I gaze into him, closing off and he stands straighter, stopping, mere feet from the door and I sigh longingly for us to be moving closer to our parting.

"Mead." At his blank stare and unmoving frame, I explain, "he delivered my invitation. I do enjoy his siblings as well." I wait, having nothing else to tell him about the subject. It isn't like Mead and I ever schedule time to see one another. If there is a job to do around here the guards know to ask him first and he always finds me if he is on location. Other than that, it isn't like I can leave. Guards swarm if I step outside the walls without an escort.

An escort meant permission. None of the girls will leave with me without my father's personal say so.

"That scruffy kid?" Sir Meliodas remembers and I frown. He's only scruffy because he has to mend his own clothing. "How'd you two meet? I can't imagine that being an arranged companion."

"He isn't. It was actually the same day I lost Mael." Mael had been my companion for two years before that, a vulnerable time as Veronica had left around then. Sir Meliodas still isn't moving and I decide I am done, I don't want to go down this road. We've touched too many memories already and at this rate, I'll be inviting the nightmares. I spin, stepping toward the exit regardless if he is following or not.

With a creak, I grip the long pole handle and use my legs to pull and pry it open. It's heavy and when I have it cracked, a hand intercepts, gripping the solid door. With no effort at all Meliodas pulls the door wide. My hands drop from the handle and I step back, embarrassed I struggled when it comes so easily to him. The emptiness inside eats up the new feeling and it too passes.

"Thank you for the tea, Elizabeth." Meliodas smiles, coaxing a small flicker of comfort as I know he means it from his pleased tone. My gaze is drawn to the front yard and then to his clear, open face. He asks, "Will you walk with me to the gate?"

Another fraction of myself chips away.

"I can't leave the castle grounds," I tell him, admitting what I haven't wanted to tell him. His head tilts, eyes tensing and I frown. I don't think he believes me. "I'll show you." I whisper, resigned. I step around him, out the front doors and I head down the front steps while picking up the skirts of my dress. The path is short from here to the palace walls.

Meliodas catches up, looking over at me but he can study all he wants. There isn't anything left of me to see. Will he figure it out now? That I have clipped wings? A bird in a cage with no knowledge of the world outside of what I've been taught and what I've read in books.

"Your feet-" He starts but I don't pay him any mind, pushing open the iron fence that surrounds my home and stepping onto the cobblestone street with purpose. I hold it open for Sir Meliodas and he joins me. He looks around, brows raised as if I met his challenge and failed. "I think with me here, it will be fine," he comments, not understanding. With stealth, I close the fence, stepping to cross the street when a rush of air erupts before me.

An angel, in full guard armor and extended wings, lands in my path. All the flowers in my hair dislodge from the gust and I watch them abandon me as they tumble down the street, tossing over one another. '_Be free'_, I pray for them, but the void is still swirling so there are no tears left to rise and fall.

"Lady Elizabeth." The large man chides, drawing my attention to his center head. He is looking over me, his voice full of frustration. Some goddesses have extra wings but this is the only goddess I know with extra heads. He has three of them, all of a different stage in life. A child on his right, middle age at the center, and crone on his left. All six of his cheeks are tinged pink from his anger.

"Tarmiel," I say by way of greeting, polite but distant. "I'm escorting Sir Meliodas to the gates, we're done with our tea." The angel's child face barely glances over at him, dismissing him, but I bend to face Meliodas, peering into his dark green eyes with one brow raised. Challenge met. '_Do you see me?'_ I sent him mentally but Meliodas' face is barren.

"You'll do no such thing. Lord Bartra was very specific. Any number of things could occur that close to the exit especially with _him_." Tarmiel's voice scratches at the inside of my ears like claws and I sigh wearily.

"If he promises-"

"Lady Elizabeth." I know talking is pointless. If it had been Mael or Dale I could go into the city with them but all the others refuse me any leeway as no one else willingly takes a scolding for me. Minimally, he never tells my father of the many hours I have put in trying to negotiate time away from the castle. "I've not the time for this."

"All I have is time. Come with us, or send for Mael." I start, he sighs.

"Excuse me." Meliodas interrupts and I wince, knowing my chances are out the window now. If I plead it is because I want something but if he pleads it's because he is after something and none of them will trust another leading me by their whims. Especially not a demon, prince or not. "I'll see her to the gate and if that isn't enough assurance that she'll be unharmed while in my care, you are more than welcome to ensure her safe return by joining us."

Tarmiel doesn't reply, all three heads turn to me and I look up with a wince as his displeasure has notched to the next degree up. "_Inside._" He commands, arm raising to point as if I don't know the way back.

"Please, Tarmiel, come with us." This time, Tarmiel steps forward and he reaches for my arm to haul me back himself. I sag, resigning to the move as it had been carried out more than my fair share. The arm-haul is the least embarrassing of the manhandling I have endured but it has been a few months since it's devolved to this point. I feel the breeze of his grab miss my arm as my other is grasped and I find I'm standing by the fence again, Sir Meliodas casually at my side. His touch lingers on my arm as it did on my fingertips, feeling his after-touch more than the original.

Meliodas ignores the enraged angel behind him as he stares into me. I stare over his shoulder at the red-faces of Tarmiel.

"I'm glad to have met you," I whisper, breaking my gaze to focus on the man before me. "Will I see you again?" I flush, obviously we will since we are to be married, "I mean, before the, uh..."

"Yes." He agrees, saving me a second time and I smile, feeling my lips curve on their own. "I'm glad to have met you too, Elizabeth. This second time went much smoother." He chuckles humorlessly and I don't get it. Meliodas reaches toward me and I feel that tingling familiar sensation again, uncomfortable. I flinch away but grow ashamed as he takes an iron rod in his hand, pulling at it to open the fence behind me.

He hadn't been reaching for me. As if he is walking me home, I stroll through the fence back on castle grounds and Tarmiel takes to the skies again, the flurry of his downdraft catches my dress in its wind and I push my hair back from my face.

"Goodbye, Sir Meliodas." I call out, turning to the gilded cage wondering how everyone else can see a castle when they look. For me, it only appears that way for brief shining moments.

Perhaps father will have dinner with me tonight? I am sure he will be curious about how the meeting had gone. I hope the curiosity will pull him away from his duties long enough for a few moments of conversation.

It's fine. Everything is fine. At the doors I turn, looking back to see how far Sir Meliodas made it down the street but to my surprise, he is still at the fence where I left him. He raises his arm, overhead waving to me and I find my hand raising to return the motion.


	3. Chapter 3: Things Forgotten

Chapter Three: Things Forgotten

The scent of lime-flower drifts under my nose and I remove it from between the pages of my book as if trying to follow the smell. I know Sir Hawk, the mighty Knight, will get out of his scrape with his evil arch nemesis the Duke of Tagory, barely alive. It is my fourth time reading this adventure and I know his inevitable fate so I put the book aside to follow my nose.

My rooms are empty and I slip from my study to peek out from the main door. I watch as a blonde head of bound hair creeps silently to the doors of the old nursery. No one goes in there, it had been closed off long ago, sheets and shadowed corners keeping my fear of the place alive. My curiosity piques as she pinches the door open just wide enough to slip herself through, a wrapped parcel under her arm.

Perhaps I've been reading too much because a few thoughts come to mind. Is Jennah a part of a secret society smuggling stolen artifacts and using our castle as a way-station? Or maybe there is a mad scientist in need of parts for her machine and Jennah is storing them until the plans are ready? Or, Jennah is sneaking in the last place anyone would look, as everyone avoids those rooms like a crime scene still under investigation, so she can slowly siphon jewels and gold from my father.

I shut my door silently. Then I bend to put my eye against the keyhole and I shallow my breathing as if a slew of armored villains are just around the bend. It's so quiet, and I know there isn't another way out of those rooms outside of passing by here. As the moments go, I think perhaps my mind played a trick on me? No, she must be doing something with the item.

Oh! She's the mad scientist, she must be building something in there! I drop to my knees to ease the muscle ache in my thighs from my long squat. It is up to me to investigate. My father left days ago with strict orders not to leave and not to host Sir Meliodas, not until he's returned. He had looked at me with suspicion as if I had _schemed_ to meet the Demon Prince.

My father had taken dinner with me that evening, my first guest in the dining room for months. He'd been resigned when I'd told him I enjoyed myself and when I told him, 'Sir Meliodas isn't bad'. Although, his blank stare had been unnerving. And, also, I didn't want him to touch me as my emotions and instincts thrashed in some kind of self-preservation. A natural demon and goddess thing? I am not sure, we haven't hosted many demons and none have ever gotten as close as Sir Meliodas. But, still, he isn't bad.

The flash of movement I see through the keyhole has my heart skipping a beat, my breath catching. I roll my eyes at myself as Jennah goes down the hall silently and slowly. She's sneaking and my mind runs with the possibilities but she probably just doesn't want to disturb me. My interest is already captured, I will find out for sure but I talk myself down to curb the disappointment I expect.

My life isn't an adventure. '_Settle, Elizabeth, it's easier on you,' _I tell myself. I wait even longer, to make sure no one is around. Rather than head to the nursery wing, I turn the way Jennah has gone. My spine straightens as I realize I want the hall to be empty of people. When have I ever...?

With a shake I spin, my bare feet padding to the double doors I thought hadn't been opened in years. I stare, unsteady, my hand trembling as I touch the knob. Just twist and pull. Rip the scab off. '_This too shall pass,' _but my head grows dizzy and my breathing quickens, yet my lungs are burning from lack of air. Sweat beads, my neck strains as I stare at the threatening wood before me. My hand falls away and I turn, taking a step back to my rooms.

"Useless!" I hiss to myself, slapping a palm to my forehead. My heart races, slamming against my ribs. "No. No!" Something semi-interesting is here and I won't let anything stop me. Not this time. I turn, in one smooth motion, I step forward, grab both door knobs and fling them open wide.

Dust kicks up in a rush from the motion and I cough, turning into my elbow to protect myself, releasing a doorknob to do so. My eyes water from my cough but I count it a victory with a smile. I made it this far. The doors are all closed, so the only light is the window at the end of the hall. Dust coats the tile floor, footprints going back and forth marking over the particles, some new and some barely outlined from the age.

I won't be shut in here, not ever again, so I push the door open completely until it touches the wall beside the frame. When I am sure they will stay, I tentatively take a step inside. Master Twigo is long gone, but somehow I feel as if he is just around the corner. I wonder briefly if I wouldn't feel this way if he hadn't escaped his punishment for his crimes against my family. When the castle doesn't crumble around me and I don't break down into a heap, I breathe deeper. My chest eases its tightness but my trembling persists as I reach the first door.

With a creak, I let the light of the room illuminate the hall better. I know which room the steps lead to, can see my old bedroom door in the distance. This room though has white sheets covering the chairs and couches, a few old statues are being stored as well, a vase of blue and yellow big enough to fit me inside is upside down against the wall. I open every door in the hall, looking over the pieces of decor stored, the old child-size beds in one room and the child-size desks in the old study room.

It doesn't smell the same, the air is stale and dry. My memories are off about this place and surprisingly I find some happy corners amidst the fear. The shapes bring back scenes long forgotten. Margaret sneaking me a piece of cake while I'd been in the punishment chair and Veronica running full hilt away from Madam Godfrey. I smile, seeing an indent in a wall where I remember my rough sister kicking it in her fury at being told what to do. I'd been shocked into giggles at her behavior, even being so much younger. Then Master Twigo came and stole the joy away.

The castle had been filled with people then. I had forgotten that it hadn't always been this empty.

With all the other doors open and the hall lit from the sunlight bleeding through, I stand before the final door. The door doesn't creak, telling me it is used to being opened. Immediately to the right, almost blocking the entrance is a tower of packages. I slip past, entering the room and I can make out a crib, filled with parcels over the sheet.

The room had been closed off but apparently items wrapped in parchment and tied with cords have been added. The film of dust gives me a rough gauge of time with 'dustiest' and 'not that dusty' being my references. I bump a tower with my behind in a careless move and I freeze, watching it wobble before the top three parcels fall and I catch one, fumble another and the last wallopes me on the head. "Ow." With a touch of frustration, I kick the heavy package and it skids across the floor.

A card flips end over end as it floats down to the floor from the steadying tower. I put the caught, squishy package on top of a different tower to pick up the card, careful not to bump anything more. Using the sunlight I read the card.

_**Elizabeth,  
I remember playing with something just like this when I was your age. I hope it brings you hours of happiness.  
-Meliodas**_

I frown, my hand shakes as I realize what I am standing in the midst of. These are the gifts Sir Meliodas told me he had sent. I'd asked my father and he promised to 'look into the matter' when he returned but I don't need his help any longer. I won't remind him and seeing it all, I know I have my work cut out for me. The card had fallen out of one of the gifts from the wobbly tower so I shove it between two before picking up half of the tower in one go.

Not bothering to be quiet, I maneuver my way out carrying my things to my rooms. I bring them to my study as I start sorting my piles by my guess of how long ago the package had been sent. I make trip after trip, thinking about how over the years he has thought of me. Sir Meliodas traveled the world and I have been on his mind.

Over the last two weeks, I've thought of what we talked about and the things he'd said. I am making another trip back, about halfway through when I find the parcel I know is latest, the one Jennah just snuck in here. It is on top of a stack, the dust having been pushed and disturbed. He sent this one after our visit. I put it aside on my desk, wanting to have all the wrapped items out of there before I am discovered in case someone puts a stop to this.

A tender spot forms in my heart. While stuck here, everyone going about their lives, having forgotten me, Sir Meliodas hasn't. I don't remember meeting him as a child but he'd been old enough to commit me to memory as someone important. Or important enough, at least. I flush, growing warm from the exertion of moving so many packages. Then my brain, being cruel to me in its nature, reminded me of the duty he has.

We are falling in line to another's dictation. He may have thought of me as, 'oh, perhaps I should send this to my future wife' but he hadn't thought of _me_, because he doesn't know me. Even five year old me would have been another version of myself that isn't who I am now. I had asked him if he wanted to be king and he'd told me, "_It doesn't matter what I want, it is my fate."_

That's what this was.

Sir Meliodas is honorable. He will marry me, seek my favor for a peaceful life but all these gifts only mean he has money and servants he can order around. Regardless, that minimal effort is more than I usually receive so the tender spot remains. With the last of the parcels moved to my rooms, I survey the haul. It all filled the nursery but here, with my organization, I still have room to walk around the piles, the gifts take up about half of the room. I can open one a day for a year and still not see the bottom of the pile.

Some packages are thin, the size of an envelope, others narrow and long but most are smaller than a book. I found a few letters but after all the moving, I had buried them under the other parcels. Eventually, I'll get to them.

A thrill shoots down my spine. Today, I caught a sneak. I faced and conquered a deep fear of mine and as a reward for my struggles I found treasure! In a sense, this has been an adventure. I go to the package I set aside on my desk, untying the string holding the brown wrappings in place with excitement. Without the tension the paper unfolds, a card is inside over the face of a leather-bound book.

_**Elizabeth,**_

_**After hearing my other favors I've sent have been lost, I can only hope this finds you and finds you well. When you told me you liked adventure novels, I scoured our library for something I thought would suit you. Our bookkeeper, Mr. Pendragon, spent an hour with me, much to his frustration, until I finally settled on this one. Let me know what you think.**_

_**-Meliodas**_

His gifts aren't servant picked? This is two hand-written notes now. I put the thick, tan card into the book at random, marking a page before turning to gather another gift. A small cube, the size of an apple catches my eye and I pull it out. The knot is stuck and I spend my time carefully tugging at the little loop to free the gift. When it finally loosens, the wrappings are stuck in place from being folded for ages.

Inside is another note with the same bold handwriting.

_**Elizabeth,**_

_**This blooms once every 3,000 years. It's called the Udumbara flower, The Flower of Heaven. I wanted you to see it.**_

_**-Meliodas**_

My hands shake as the note falls from my grasp and I focus them on prying the box open. It will be dead, too long stuck in that room and I curse my father and Jennah and everyone who knows about my unreceived packages. If it blooms every three-thousand years, I'll never get to see it. My only hope is the flower dried properly in such a condition. The lid dislodges and with a tight chest, I look in, finding a clear oblong orb.

Had the note been placed in the wrong gift? I pull the glass free but it feels lighter than glass and I freeze, realizing its _resin_. My eyes fill and I rush to the window to pull back the curtains and get direct light. Inside, encased in the resin is the smallest, thinnest pin sized flower stem with five or six thinner stems at the head all leading to wavy white petals open in a bloom. He'd captured one, saving it for me... It is so simple but knowing how rare the Udumbara flower is made the little thing priceless.

In a rush, I push the wrapping mess off my desk, pulling out my ink quills and paper. I sit the flower on its flattened edge, standing the minuscule thing tall before me as my most prized decoration. I gape at it before I begin a letter to Sir Meliodas. I address him formally, the first paragraph an explanation of exploring old storage rooms and having found all his parcels. As I write, it devolves.

I find myself telling him about the flower and the book and how finding treasure at the end of my own adventure is so grand to me. My excitement over discovering a room I knew had always been there made me feel silly. I find myself climbing my way back to formality as I again invite him to another tea time. I give a date for after my father's return. I add a clause that if Lord Bartra has not returned by then that we will have to reschedule.

After I sign my name I think of our first meeting and I add with a P.S. '_If I had known you've thought of me fondly over the years I may not have been so afraid when meeting you'_.

With shaking fingers I fold it up. I don't have a gift to return all the favors he's bestowed on me, unknowingly, over the years. Nothing here had been bought by me and I would need to bring Jennah or Zaneri with me into town. I want to have a day to look forward to and with my father gone, it will take too long.

Leaving will be impossible. Even Mael and Dale won't allow it without Lord Bartra on property. After some consideration, I tuck my ugly cat money in my bosom, fold the letter up in my waistband and I go in search of a solution. I find Zaneri, in the kitchens taking my meal there as I hadn't come down earlier. When I finish my food, I ask her to please have a guard summon Mead. She readies and I follow her, asking if she knows about any 'packages' from Sir Meliodas. She simply tells me, "Ask your father when he returns, Lady Elizabeth. He'll know."

As she is heading out the heavy front doors I call after her, "Please have the kids pack an overnight bag. I feel like company." She smiles sadly at me. I know she feels bad for me. Her eyes always hold an overly kind type of _pity, _especially when she catches me eating alone or taking tea alone or asking after my father who always seems to have business to attend too.

Jelamet had insisted on a nap earlier but with Mead coming I will need a chaperone and of course I think of her. Regardless that there is a six year age difference. Because we are opposite genders and he is old enough, I need her. I walk the empty halls to their wing, finding her door easily enough. I knock and to my surprise, Jennah calls out for me to come in.

The room is how it always is. Quilt covered mattress, doilies on all table surfaces and a big cush rug under it all. "Oh, excuse me Lady Elizabeth, I was expecting my sister." Jennah dips low while stepping back to let me in. Jelamet struggles from her chair and I go to her, helping her with my arm. I tell them where I sent Zaneri and Jelamet smiles her part grimace.

"I love when children's laughter echoes in the halls, it brings me back." The old woman utters, eyes dancing. Her hand comes up to cover my hand over her arm. "You used to scream so loud the windows would shake from your excitement."

Jennah slips out while I help Jelamet and I frown, wishing I asked her about the packages while I had the chance. We walk, our steps are slow and when we arrive after our jilted journey across the castle, I arrange her in my sitting room. I take a seat at her side as this is where Zaneri will bring everyone. Nervously, I ask Jelamet about Meliodas' gifts and her brown eyes sag as she looks into me.

"Oh, darling." She tells me, "Your father had so much regret over what happened to you as a child that he's crippled himself. He stumbles over his own fears and his own view of his failures." Her dry hand comes up to cup my cheek and there is so much comfort there... a touch that expresses love and tenderness. I sag into it, eyes filling and spilling. The letter at my waist crinkles under my weight as I slowly lean into Jelamets boney shoulder. I sob there, gripping at her blouse and her hands wrap around me, patting my shoulders.

I faced that horrible man's memory today but hearing how the event has affected my father as well, tips me over the emotional edge.

Mead and his siblings are so loud I hear them halls away. We right ourselves with watery smiles to one another and I rise to gather the box of toys from beside the bookshelf in preparation of their arrival. Mabel loves to dump everything out and get in the toybox to play. Zaneri promises treats when the kids swarm and Mead leisurely strolls to the fireplace to start it. He likes the ambiance.

The evening wears on and I invite them to dinner when Zaneri brings cookies. She will know then to set the dining room for us all.

Millie has her nose in a book she started at the last visit. She refuses to take it home with her fearing it will get damaged. Mabel has the toy box tipped over, toys scattering by the fire, with its gate up to prevent accidents, and she laughs, spraying cookie crumbs. When Jelamet is busy with Mae and Markle, Mead and I begin our game of chess.

Over the game board, we have our own dance. First, I will sneak him the coins behind Jelamet's back. With a quick flip of my dress, I remove the letter, tucking it under my thigh and I grin at Mead's devious smile. Perhaps my father is right, I am scheming. But, it is about time I take control of my own life. There isn't a way out of this arranged marriage and I can grow to tolerate Meliodas.

He hasn't been horrible and he is nice to look at.

Mead takes the job, the kids stay the night and when Mead returns two days later than his estimated delivery time, he asks to speak to me alone during the rush of greetings from us all. I've been glutted with the company, filled with the stories and joys of his siblings that I hollow inside knowing what awaits me when they leave. Jelamet waves us away, uncaringly as she reads Mabel a story on her lap. I bring Mead to my bedroom as the study is filled with gifts that I don't want to explain.

"Where have you been?" I ask, glad to see him. "We've been worried sick." Tears fill my eyes and he scowls, "I thought I sent you to your death or you were taken by some beast."

"Oh please." He puffs his chest, "I'm tough." Mead roams my room, looking into my messy closet and stopping at my bedside table where a stack of books rest. The top one is the book Meliodas sent, an adventure romance between a demon and a human. Together they save her kingdom and I hope they end up together. I have two chapters left and there seems so few pages remaining for the happy ending I desire. "So this is your room." Mead waggles his eyebrows sitting back on my mattress and I laugh.

"Shut up." I joke, crossing my arms and tapping my bare feet on the tile. "Spill, Mead." I demand.

"Fine... He wasn't in his kingdom. I had to track him and the Prince had been very impressed when I'd arrived." Mead pulls a heavy sack from his breast pocket. "Gave me thirty gold pieces for my trouble... he tried to buy information from me and in return, I demanded he give me the coin anyway or I'd tell you all about his shenanigans." With Mead's calculating smile I know he's successfully swindled Meliodas.

"Like I care what he's doing." I flush, my tummy twisting. Is it something horrible? Illegal? Dirty? Mead laughs.

"For you, the information is always free." Mead smirks, leaning forward, eager to share. "Underground fighting!" He confesses, his voice squeaking with puberty and excitement. "I stayed for the rounds and _wooooahhh_ can Meliodas hook 'em. He left a crater bigger than this entire castle when he took down that beast of a demon." Mead shakes his head, "After all that, he lost to a human... I couldn't believe it! This guy, he can't die. I mean that, literally, Elizabeth. Meliodas ran him through over and over, ripped off the guy's arm and smacked him with it and still..." Mead throws his hands up over his head, falling back across my mattress.

"It sounds like an adventure," I hush, happy for Mead. I am so glad Sir Meliodas isn't in a pleasure den or drunk in a ditch. He'd told me he liked to fight. Mead sighs, long and pleased before rising to a seat again.

"Well, he tried to buy information about you. I refused. Trust me on that." Mead looks proud, "There was this ale there, I wanted to bring you back some but Meliodas wouldn't let me. It was full-bodied with the sweetest aftertaste and... uh, well I wouldn't know personally." His cheeks pinken and I move to sit on the bed beside him, smiling. _Yeah, whatever, Mead._

"You could have told him anything you wanted, if you needed the money I would understand." I tell Mead, meaning it but he shakes his head, refusing.

"If someone is trying to buy your information, it can only be for a bad reason. Manipulation is my guess but Meliodas does seem pretty open. Not his style." Meads words give me pause. Meliodas is closed off with me. Maybe Ale opens him up? Mead speaks as if his evening out with the Prince means he is extremely close to him and I smile wryly.

A knock sounds at my door, and I call out a 'come in' thinking Millie must have finished the second book she's started. That girl devours books faster than me. Yesterday she finally agreed to take some of them home, with the promise to return them. Metal clanges on my tile as the door opens and in steps Ludociel. Fear shoots through me so fast my tongue go numb, tingling and feeling foreign in my mouth. I jump from the bed, hands up in surrender as the narrow face of my father's personal guard, and right-hand man, takes in the scene with contempt.

"Out!" The usually stoic face of the handsome Ludociel twists in derision. "You are not welcome here." Mead stands, wide eyed at the winged and armoured overbearing man intimidating my only friend, who doesn't back down, his shoulders square.

"Where Elizabeth invites me, I'm welcome." Mead's voice wavers but I think his bravery shines through his fear. When Ludociel steps forward, I don't want the situation to escalate and step between them. Mead is a teenager and Ludociel knows how to kill people with his fingertips.

Ludociel grabs my forearm, hauling me out of my room and into the hall. Jelamet is there, wide-eyed in alarm and surrounded by kids. "What is the meaning of this?!" Her voice never quakes, "unhand the princess right now." She demands.

"You are responsible for this." Ludociel speaks to the woman as if she should know better, "she was in bed with this boy! Do you know the repercussions if she's harmed, if she's touched ever again?!" Jelamet flounders, lips flapping like a fish and her cheeks burn red.

What repercussions? By who? My only thought is my father, he must have rules about this too.

"We weren't doing anything. Only talking!" I defend but Ludociel is hauling me away, calling over his shoulder the harsh demand of, "Get them all out of here, Lord Bartra will hear of this and you lot should be long gone by then." I look back, tears streaming as I tell them, "I'm sorry, so sorry," before I'm being dragged down the hall closer and closer to my father.

I'm towed by my limb passed the throne room, the entrance hall and we pass the wing the workers stay in to be brought up to my father's personal rooms. I feel like a child again. A flash of the last few times, years ago, when the mischievous streak I had, had been alive and enjoyed. I'd been caught sneaking treats, dancing on the roof- I had wings so how was that so bad, and spying on dignitaries. Each had ended in some form of punishment and I wonder now... what else can he possibly take away at this point?

"Ludociel please." I tug again but all it ever does is force him to haul me a step forward a little faster than before. The doors are open and we stroll in. My father is sitting in his study, looking old and tired and... sad. Ludociel releases me and I step away, folding my arms over myself. I watched my father as Ludociel tells him what he walked in on, "She was alone in her room, _in bed_ with that miscreant of a boy!"

"It wasn't like how he's implying," I clarify, but Ludociel hasn't stopped speaking and my words are lost among the angry explanation of Jelamet's lack of ability, of the 'beggar' children causing such a fuss and how I 'ran a muck' while they were away. "We can't leave her on her own, with him on the prowl now, with him nearing, we must-"

Ludociel sputters to a stop when my father raises his hand in a clear indication to do so. He rubs at his temples, calmly asking Ludociel to leave us. The tall man spins, his long black hair fanning out around him and when he looks over at me with fury blazing I can't see a single similarity between him and his son Mael. Mael hadn't inherited his father's righteous indignation but there are plenty of Ludociel's friends that abide by his views. He has Dreyfus and Hendrickson listening to him as if his words are gospel. When I'd cared enough to sneak around to spy on others just to pretend they were my company, I'd heard his condemnation of the other races.

Did he condemn me too, for what has been forced upon me? Is that why Mael has stood by and let it happen? His father had made him play with me but can Mael have picked up on Ludociel's contempt of me- for things out of my control?

"Elizabeth." My father sounds weary. He puts a few things aside and stands, walking around his desk to ask me. "What should I do?" He asks, lost and my mind blanks. He's never asked my opinion before, he's never sought my counsel. I grasp at straws in my mind, trying to figure out what he means. With Mead? Me? Or Ludociel? Or has something else happened? "I am doing everything in my power, I spent days explaining courting to the demons to give you more time and I come back to this? Are you trying to force our hand, taking a boy to your bed?"

I flush, hot. He is talking about Sir Meliodas? He hadn't even crossed my mind. Is that what my father is so worked up over?

"It wasn't my decision to be betrothed," I answer, and my father scowls, a rough sound in his throat. I hate when things are decided for me, my life not being my own.

"But it was your decision to invite that monster here. Now, to lay with another? The boy is not to ever return and you tell me now, have you... is there a chance of a child as we must act fast if-"

"No, father!" I cover my mouth, my eyes filling in frustration as my breathing grows harsh.

"I'm doing everything in my power to keep you a little longer!" His voice deepens in anger and I fall back into old habits, sagging into myself like I am that little girl again. "To protect you from the world, from the harshness of it all and this is how you repay me? I thought you'd grown out of your sneaking!"

Protect me from the world? Why? Does this all stem from something I can barely remember happening with Master Twigo? My betrothal? The child inside me screams, silent and drowning in the dark nebula. I take strength from her and in the face of my father's anger, I stand taller, snapping myself from the void.

"Was it my fault?" I ask, soft and staring at my father's narrow eyes. They open wide at my words, a spark of fear in them. "Did I do something to cause it, father? At such a tender age did I do something to-"

"No, Elizabeth." He answers, immediately and passionately. Tears fall, heavy and I hate it, hate that while angry I drip sorrow. My father's eyes shine like glass. "You were vulnerable and that monster preyed upon a child, Twigo-"

"Then why?" I ask, kind and imploring, "why have I been punished for it? I can't leave. I'm told I need to make progress with Lord Meliodas and when I do, you're upset. Even our own city is out of bounds."

"It's not like that..." My father reaches for me. How many times have I wished he would? Now, I step away, wanting to fall into him but I need answers.

"Then what father? Why can't I simply try to win some favor with Sir Meliodas, a man you agreed for me to marry? Why did you hide all of his gifts in my nursery, a place you knew I'd _never go_ and why am I imprisoned here _alone_ when by your own admission, I've not done the crime."

For a long moment, we stare. My tears drip, trailing long paths down my cheeks and his eyes swirl in thought, and in... regret. More questions form in my mind. Why did he explain courting to the demons? Couldn't I have gone with him and why can I never go anywhere even with my father there? What harshness does he speak of, in regards to the world? If I want answers to the question I've already asked, I had to wait. I'm very used to waiting.

"I don't want to lose you, I just want to protect you and I've never been able to. You are most important, the last of my babies and when I look at you all I can see is... my own failure." His eyes fill and I balk as tears fall down his cheek, one and then another. That's all he will seemingly allow as he uses his sleeve to rub at his face. In tandem, I reach for him but he's already turning to his desk away from me and my hand glides to my side having found nothing to hold.

He sniffs and I wipe at my own tears, wanting to embrace him and be held by him for just a moment... My father takes a seat at his desk.

"Do you love this boy, Mead?" My father asks and I scowl at the subject change.

"He is only my friend," I confess truthfully. "Truly, nothing happened, he was delivering my letter to Sir Meliodas... as obviously our _delivery_ methods here are flawed." My father has the decency to flush.

"I kept the parcels away so as not to remind you. I wanted you to grow without that influence." I cross my arms again, defiant and he sighs. "Regardless, you know my policy of being alone and behind closed doors. Mead will not be permitted on castle ground again. I shall spread the word." I flinch, hands shaking as they rise to cover my cheeks.

"Father, please!" I can't leave the castle and he can't come into it? "He's my only friend!"

He scowls, figurative steel hardening in his shoulders but my father waves his hand to _dismiss_ me like he did Ludociel. "I've made my mind up on this. It will buy you more time."

For the first time in years, I yell, my voice cracking as I unleash the whirlwind building inside me at the thought of another loss. "_All I have is time!" _Once it's expelled, I crumple, parchment gripped in a fist that can never be smoothed right again. My father lowers his head to his crisp, pristine papers, ignoring and forgetting me again.

Mabel will too, she's so young I know personally that memories from her age are fleeting. Millie won't get to finish that novel- no! I'll send it to her, no one should have their story cut short. Markle and Mae will have to make mischief without my guidance, they'll manage if they listen to Mead. He rivals me and he has been a true friend.

I stumble as I walk out, heading to my silent, empty rooms like a ghost, moaning low and dripping. I still have Jelamet... She's been with me since I was a baby. Mead will be fine without me, he has a house full of love to go home to every day but without him and his siblings, I won't get to watch what _family_ is anymore. Who will I talk to now? What do I have to look forward to?


	4. Chapter 4: A Beacon

Chapter Four: A Beacon

I sip my tea, shoulders hunched and staring out at the wisp of clouds stretching across the pale blue sky. My chest is hollow, the warmth in my tummy from the tea the only pleasant feeling inside me. The low timbre of his voice is nice, it's calming and I lazily turn, finding I can't meet his eyes. My gaze won't move beyond the curve of his jaw and it drops to the junction of his shoulder. I nod, not having caught what he is explaining.

He brought us a few strawberry jam tarts to share. He'd remembered, from our last meeting, that he'd bring me something sweet from his clan. I force myself to chew and swallow but it feels like stones in my hard stomach. Everything I've eaten today has tasted like ash and with all my wishing to experience the glistening treats, it had been the same for these as well.

Jelamet's vocal tones, rough with age, answer but in the middle of her reply, a coughing fit interrupts her. I frown feeling my eyes prick as she struggles with her breathing. She hits her chest as if restarting her lungs and after a moment there is a deep inhale from her. I rise, embarrassingly clanging my dishes together as my hands shake. Jelamet has accompanied us on the balcony today, standing by the railing. She'd been reprimanded, loudly, days ago for allowing me to be alone with my friend.

When I reach her at the railing I support her, guiding her to take my chair before Sir Meliodas. I move her shaking hands to take my cup and she smiles warmly, speaking, but I press the cup to her lips. The steam helps her lungs and she breathes it in. Her other hand touches my face and I feel my chin quiver, growing overwhelmed.

With both seats now taken, I walk to where Jelamet used to be standing and grip the railing to lean out over the greenery below to feel the wind a fraction sooner. I haven't dressed up today but Sir Meliodas had. He's in pressed slacks, button up shirt and when he arrived I felt lacking, dull. As if all my shine has been stolen out from under me. A jewel turned to a pebble.

He'd stared like he had the first time. Even now, with my back to him, I feel his gaze on me. I can't focus but I apologized before we even greeted one another that I am out of sorts today and won't be good company. Blankly he'd told me, "I'd still like to be here with you." So here we are.

When the wind picks up, I can't resist and I bloom my wings. I hear a deep inhale behind me, knowing it isn't Jelamet as her lungs can't handle such abuse. Quickly, I rise, stepping up to the railing and I dismiss them to vanish in a blink. If I wasn't being watched I would have enjoyed the wind through my wings a moment longer, so I could pretend to fly. Of all the rules, I think it's cruelest that I can't fly without Ludociel, Tarmiel, or Sariel. As if I am brave enough to demand time from any of them...

His voice calls out to me and I turn until my gaze meets his shoulder, folding into a seat to position myself on the railing. I don't understand what he says, the tone light and admiring but the words don't process. As if he is speaking another language and I wish I were different, that I had Mead's bravery in the face of certain defeat or Sir Meliodas' self-assurance. I slowly apologize, my hands shaking to clench together over my collarbone.

Jelamet does the talking while my dress dances around my ankles from the breeze. I do feel better. Being around people and hearing the tones of speaking is enough to lift me into a gentle stillness rather than my stifling one. I am bad company, bringing the two people I have remaining in my life that want to be in my presence, down.

Too soon the tea is gone and Sir Meliodas prolongs his stay much longer than the last time. I steal a glance, looking at the side of his face and I shy back when he is drawn to my gaze. Is he... being kind, sticking around while I succumb to myself? I look at the sky again. In the extra hour of stalling our parting, the clouds grow dark and a light mist of rain starts. I reach forward, catching what I can of the rain, cool on my skin. My feet kick out, toes spreading and I hear the glide of a chair push back from the table.

The smooth, unlabored movements indicate who is coming over and I smile at the gray around me.

He doesn't say a word, his hands grip the railing and in a smooth 'hup' of a jump, he sits at my side a foot between us. In slow motion, he extends his hand to catch the drizzle on his digits too. Sir Meliodas looks at the view, then the greenery and then down farther to the path inside the shrubbery hidden from peering eyes on either side.

"Elizabeth?" His voice is slick oil sliding through me and I meet his eyes for the first time today. Shining emeralds lighten as his lips tip up. I know what he will ask, a standard version of 'what's wrong'. He draws his wet hand back and when he opens his mouth I close my eyes, not wanting to see him say it because I can't explain it. After what happened with Mead, with my father stripping more of my freedoms away, I am having a hard time adjusting to the new desolation inside. I hadn't been in bed with another guy while betrothed... "Would you like to take a walk with me?"

I jolt in surprise, eyes widening as I see his face has blanked.

"I can't leave," I tell him, just above a whisper.

"Yeah, I pieced it together." He admits. "I did wonder over the years why you never appeared at any of the royal events. I'm guessing you were not actually ill that often?" I stare, no longer surprised that my father kept something else from me. I shake my head no, slowly and I notice dark flecks in his green orbs, his pupils growing wider. "Well, I'm glad for that." He quips, "but I meant a walk down there." He points to the path I used to walk as a child when I thought I was being so naughty.

When I break from his gaze, a few breaths later I find Jelamet's face to ask permission with my expression. She's relaxed, a strawberry treat in her hand. "There you are dear, we've missed you." I flush at her words, easing as her smile is kind. "Go on. I'll swear to my dying breath you were both on this balcony with me the entire visit, doubly so if you're caught." The old bitty shoves the whole cookie in her mouth and I laugh, looking to Sir Meliodas to share in the joke but he's already staring at me, looking startled.

He shakes his head, rising to stand on the stone railing and walks to the end, over the gap of grass there. He's graceful, walking off into the air and falling to the earth silently. I follow, walking along the railing as he had. I hold my dress in place at my thighs but it flaps around my knees anyway. I look down at him.

"I'll catch you." Sir Meliodas calls out, hand up toward me but I smile while spreading my wings from the ethereal and lowering myself down with ease. He doesn't drop his hand and I feel obligated to take it when it's within my reach, so... I do. My skin glides against his and he stills, skipping a breath before his fingers curve around mine to 'help me' to the ground. He's warm and rough, his hands are used to labor in spite of being royalty. No, not labor, it would be the fighting he partakes in.

Mead had called it 'underground'.

His touch awakens me. My haze clears and I curse myself for slipping so far into the dark that I couldn't enjoy the one thing I had to look forward too. Company. Tea with Meliodas is the only thing I have left to break up the monotony. His grip is loose and I slip out from his hand to clasp my own together over my core to start our walk.

The drizzle is cool, clinging pinpoints of liquid over the two of us. "Would you like my overcoat?" He asks. He had dressed up nice for our tea date and I flush, shaking my head no.

"Thank you though. I'm sorry about today. I was stuck in my own head." I explain and he brushes it off.

"If you want to talk about it, I'm here." He answers and I find it to be perfect. He doesn't push, offers and leaves it as it is. Our walk is wet but his breathing is steady and he jumps up to look into the windows of the first floor when we pass them. The pair of us are not tall enough to see in, a large stone foundation to our side and bushes on the other. We're over half way around when he asks, "Which packages have you opened so far?"

"I've been doing one a day, to have something to look forward to," I confess to him, watching his relaxation blank into his zero-expression. "Yesterday, I opened the mask with the feathers. The day before that it was a pressed leaf from the fairy tree- I really liked that one, even dried it was beautiful." My favorite is still the tiny white bloom, so simple in its appeal.

"Would you like to see the great fairy tree yourself?" He asks and I stop, that crack of hope renewing.

"Yeah," I answer, breathy and I stare into him hopefully. Will he... save me from my prison? Not from the pan into the fire but- to fly free and see the world?

"I'll see what I can do." He speaks and when he starts to walk on I reach for him, my hand grazing his hard bicep. I want to tell him to take me anywhere away from here and I'll be happy. Sir Meliodas stops, looking over to me quickly as if he can't believe I'd touched him and as my hand falls away, his face zeros out again.

"Sorry." I mutter, changing my mind about telling him. I shiver, not at all from the cold, before walking on. For my own sanity, I need to be content where I am. We walk on a while until we near a full circuit of the castle, Margaret's balcony coming into view ahead. "I heard of your fight, from Mead." I muse to start up talk again and Meliodas chuckles.

"I like that kid." He answers.

"What information did you try to buy from him?" I ask and his laugh grows deeper, more open and I peek to see his Adam's apple bob and his mouth twist in actual expression.

"That little..." He grumbles good-humored as he looks off, eyes dancing. "I suppose he did say he 'might keep quiet' _if_ I shared my winnings, I should have guessed he'd out me." Sir Meliodas never answers my question, instead offering to jump me up to the balcony, opening his arms as if hoping I'd climb in them. His hair is matted down from the rain, his coat sticking to him.

I am not much better, but having walked on the inside I haven't gotten as wet. My dress clings but it had been snug to begin with. The wind blows, tickling my hair and making the misting rain feel colder than it truly is. I fly up, over him, reaching for the railing as I spin over the edge to land on my feet. He stays below looking up as if stunned, eyes wide and jaw slack.

"What?" I call down, confused and he scratches at his head, shrugging before I step back when he crouches low. A moment later he's beside me, landing silently on the tips of his toes. He smiles, his sharp canines coming into view.

Jelamet walks Sir Meliodas out with me. She takes his arm when he offers to help her and he is patient with her pace, seeming to have all the time in the world for her. When we reach the heavy double doors, he opens it for us and Jelamet stays on the landing while I see Sir Meliodas to the fence. On our way in the front gardens, I ask if he wants another tea date, giving him a date two weeks away. He agrees, not having to check his schedule and I hope he knows where he needs to be well enough in advance. He does have obligations.

"Goodbye, Sir Meliodas," I rasp, feeling strong enough to face the next few days alone with myself. I close the fence between us.

For the next three visits, he comes, slowly drinks all of the tea with me and over the month, I count Sir Meliodas as someone good in my life. My father has dinner with me every evening that he comes and I narrate some of what we talk about. Although my father is strict, there is always a reason for his rules and I can tell with each happy recounting he is growing easier with the thought of me marrying Sir Meliodas. He'd never say it, but when I repeated the joke Sir Meliodas had told me, a cheesy play on words, my father actually smiled. It was a happy moment between us, as father and daughter, as I called him out and he jokingly denied finding it funny.

My father may get mad at me for breaking his rules but he always loves me. I know, regardless of how often he forgets his appointments with me or forces me to stay indoors, we are family.

A parcel comes and Jennah delivers it to me, flush-faced and sputtering about 'orders' but I am not angry with her. The gifts were hidden at my father's insistence. I hug her, granting her peace through a soft glow, and she cries when she goes. I walk to my study where all the other parcels are to open it. Inside the package is another book since I'd enjoyed the first so much. The note says,

_**Elizabeth,**_

_**Is it the words that entice you or the thought of adventure? Tell me and it will fill your world.**_

_**-Meliodas.**_

I flush, wondering if there is a deeper side to Sir Meliodas.

I sit at my desk, pulling out a sheet of parchment and I try my best to answer his question. I ramble on in my looping scrawl handwriting for two whole pages about loving the descriptions of different places and visualizing being there. I explain how I used to be allowed in the meadow below our floating city when Jelamet had been well, that those outings gave me something to look forward to. The letter turns sad when I confess how lonely I am in the silence that follows me here. Books made me someone else, I can be brave and take down villains if I want or I can be a seductress that uses their body to trick evildoers.

In the end, it doesn't matter one iota what I write to him because I don't have Mead to send it. When I read it over and flush over the dramatic way I hint at wanting to be anyone but myself, the decision is finalized not to have it delivered. I crumple it up, abandoning it beside my Udumbara flower.

Jelamet holds steady, having great days where we dance while she teaches me to make sweet rolls layered with jam and bad ones where I stay in her room to read out loud to her grimacing face. Sir Meliodas is scheduled to come and for the first time, I tell Jennah and Zaneri that I'll be hosting in my own sitting room. Jelamet is having a bad day and I don't want her standing on the balcony, or alone, so I set her up in a chair with a warm mug, a blanket and a fire.

"Elizabeth?" He calls out, down my hall. He's early! I stand, flustered as I prop open the door and step out to show him where I am. I hadn't the time to set up the gift he'd sent, who knows how long ago, but I suppose now I can ask if he even wants to play while we take our tea. He's looking into my bedroom and I flush, hoping I have kicked my nightgown and underwear into my closet when I'd dressed for our meeting. His eyes are dancing but his face is blank as he blandly asks, "So these are your rooms?"

Meliodas is in a loose button up, no overcoat. It's white with a logo of a place I've never heard of. His slacks are loose and I notice something off about him. He dressed more relaxed than I've ever seen, but it... isn't that, is it? I frown looking Sir Meliodas over and he flushes, his cheeks pinkening as he brushes imagined dust off the front of his shirt.

"Are you... okay?" I ask, and for a blink, his mouth pops into a shocked 'o' shape. Then he's zero-faced again. He walks toward me but he stops at the door to the next room between us to open it and look in. Sir Meliodas is being nosy and I haven't cleaned! "It's only a mess because I gathered all the... well, your gifts." I flush, wishing I hadn't made that face to him while waffling between stopping his curiosity or letting him explore. He is growing more comfortable with me, I can tell because he chose to wear something less formal and I've embarrassed him. He's been so patient and kind to me so I wish I returned the favor when given the chance. Instead I feel like I've blown it.

"I knew I sent too much but seeing it all piled like that... I did go overboard, huh?" Sir Meliodas scratches his head, leaving the room to come toward me. I step back, giving him a clear way through the entrance but he stops before me, eyes light. "I'm glad to see you again." He whispers, face neutral but I grow warm hoping he means it in more ways than just a greeting.

"Me too, Sir Meliodas," I reply softly, and he nods in acknowledgment before going into my sitting room. He gives Jelamet a similar greeting with a side wave and my heart gives a small skip. Why am I... let down? Do I want Sir Meliodas to have feelings for me? It doesn't seem like this demon has many feelings. I want him to be as kind to Jelamet as he is to me, but I must want something special from him. My own intimate greeting, one he doesn't give to others? He calls my name and I realize I am foolishly still in the hall.

Scrambling, I fuss over my arranged table with the tea, pouring him his no-sugar, no-milk, no-honey tea and fix myself a cup. Jelamet gets a top off and when I return Meliodas has taken a seat. I look out into the sky. "The flying fish have been migrating. If you watch, we may see a school of them." I tell Meliodas to fill the silence but he doesn't look away from me.

Before I sit, I grab the box on the couch, showing Sir Meliodas the wooden front of it, engraved with checker squares of light and dark over a dragon wrapped around a castle. "I opened this one a few days ago and thought you'd like to break it in with me?" Immediately his lips give a small tip up and he turns to the table to move things from the center of it so there is room for our game board.

I had broken the seal to see what had been inside but I haven't removed the pieces from their soft molds. Gently, I set the box down, unhooking the clasp to lift the lid. On my side are the white stone pieces, carved and etched in such detail it still takes my breath away and I've looked at them every day since I've opened it. Each piece has its own tiny dragon. The queen had a golden razorback dragon on top, roaring; the king a silver horn at the base, sleeping. The bishops are wrapped around it as if the red fire dragon is climbing the base with wings extended looking a moment from flight. The pawns are tiny wyverns with gaping maws. I could stare for hours but Sir Meliodas moves to start taking his pieces out so I break my stare to spin the board, so the black, onyx stone carvings are on my side.

I meet his gaze with intent. "Being dark just means they're someone that shouldn't be taken lightly." I wonder if he understands this will be the only warning he receives as I already have a strategy, and based on this I will make a final assessment of him. Sir Meliodas thinks about it, tilting his head to the side and I flush, realizing he had dark magic, opposite my own light, and it could apply in that way too. "I meant... well sometimes the dark can be very appealing," I whisper my confession, breaking my eyes from his to start removing my game pieces.

After a few breaths, he does the same, saying softly. "I find white to be utterly endearing, a shining beacon." Sir Meliodas speaks but I don't dare look, shaking as I pry the next dragon, a blue razortail knight piece with a faceless rider on its back, from it's mold. When all the slots are empty we silently flip the board and fill in our pieces to begin.

And we do.

We are feeling one another out, I can tell we both are playing tentatively. Occasionally, either of us will stop to sip our tea and I find this silence to be enjoyable. I smile when he makes a bold move and I admire his mind. He may have a low emotional range but his brain is full of surprises. I can sustain on that if he can challenge me mentally. We meet piece for piece, only sacrificing minor players until, with a long sip of my tea, I reconsider what I am trying to accomplish. I think, '_with all his self assured confidence, would he be a boastful winner?' _So, I shift my tentative aggression into openings to allow him to win.

It is more important to find out what type of man Sir Meliodas is than to prove I can win. My first opening, he passes up and I look at him, he's already looking at me so it's easy to catch his eye whenever I choose to. Of course, I can't read him. I don't look again, leaning into the table. As we play for the next twenty minutes, where it's just hard enough to meet piece for piece, the gears click in place. He's... letting me win. He's playing at what he believes my skill level is. Oh, what a naive man.

Then it becomes fun, rather than playing to win we are both trying to lose and the strategies take a turn. I pass up easier and easier openings and our game turns into a dance of teasing the other into taking bigger prizes. After the third lure I set, Meliodas leans forward, elbows on the table in attention. "You're trying to lose."

"Hm?" I smile deviously at him and his lips part with his sharp inhale. "I figured that same thing about you, fifteen minutes ago." His responding grin meets me where I'm at and the game shifts again to try and force the other into moves that take pieces. The difficulty rises and rises. When both of us are setting our traps he stops and leans back with his tea to look at me. I feel his eyes on me and when I raise my orbs to his, he speaks.

"Your mind is a delight to behold, Elizabeth." Sir Meliodas says assured as if he knew it all along and now that his suspicions are confirmed, he is simply reminding himself 'I told you so' in his compliment to me. I open my mouth to tell him how thrilled I am he isn't a witless dummy but another, older scratching voice fills the room. Her pride shining through in her words.

"Imagine what she's capable of out in the world. When she's raising nations from nothing-"

"_Jelamet..." _I complain, shifting uncomfortably with another compliment to my person. I fold my hands in my lap and push the cuticles back on my nails. We abandon our game, both not interested in winning and finishing our tea as we marvel at the details of the shining scales of each dragon. Sir Meliodas points out the window. "A school of Flying Fish," he draws my attention. We watch them fly through the clouds, arching and gleaming in the sun.

Our time seems to pass quickly today. Already it is nearing lunchtime with the sun high in the sky and Sir Meliodas has prolonged his time long enough. He helps Jelamet up as we begin our walk through the castle when I notice he's being overly gentle. His face blanks but nose flares and I realize in a rush. "You're hurt." Sir Meliodas turns to me in surprise and Jelamet looks him over with furrowed brows, concerned. "You fought recently and you came anyway. When you needed rest to recover."

Slowly, he scratches the back of his head, elbow up to the sky as he winces at my words, me having figured it out. "I lost." He admits in a way that explains why he hasn't said anything. Sir Meliodas hadn't wanted to tell me?

"That doesn't matter so much." I smile reassuringly and his mouth parts again in exhale, his palm dropping from his head as if the shock slacks his grip. "Would you... if you want... I can heal you?" I stumble with my words but step toward him steadily, a foot away, and we stare for a moment as he considers my offer. How many times in the history of our world has a goddess healed a demon for comfort, as obviously, he will survive?

"Yeah." Meliodas breathes and under his intense stare, I grow uncomfortable. Jelamet excuses herself and our stare remains unbroken while she hobbles out and I jump when she softly clicks the door shut behind herself. With effort, I fight my own apprehensions, raising my hand up between our chests and I'm not sure where to touch him. He's looking at me, blank-faced but it's like his eyes are asking me something and I fight to keep eye contact until I _can't._ I frown, sighing as I look away, defeated again by my own deficiencies and doubts.

"Close your eyes," I request of him, pleading softly. "When you stare at me like that I... just, close them." He doesn't give me any indication of whether he's complied and I shift my weight nervously from one foot to the other. My hand between us covering my chest and I turn to look at him through my hair. His eyes are shut and he looks at ease, breathing steadily before me.

Not his chest, that seems too intimate... as did his hands. His face maybe? Would that be invasive? If I were in his place, where would I want to be healed that's not awkward? I look my fill of him, more comfortable doing so without his roaming gaze on me and I bring my hand forward again, between us. I bite my lip noting his dependable, silent patience.

My fingers rose higher, to hover over his face and I brush the tips of them over his forehead, easing them forward and up into his hairline as my palm rests over his brow. His hair is soft and parts like silk in water. He's warm like heated blankets and his skin is smooth like worn, eroded stones under a rushing stream. Sir Meliodas stills at first contact, a statue and I hope it isn't tension or fear of my magic that makes him react this way. He's not even breathing.

"Don't worry," I whisper as I close my eyes for fairness. My glow spreads, at first contact his lungs restart in a solid, quick inhale. I can tell he closed his wounds superficially. It is an upper-level demon trait, to be able to seal wounds with your darkness. I knit him up, from top to bottom. The slices on his face, the chunk out of his arm and it is all regular fighting wounds of blunt force until my magic reaches his core. I gasp, both our eyes opening, his in content warmth as if he is in the midst of a bath but mine in alarm.

He has a hole as if a fist went _through_ his stomach. My other hand tentatively presses to the flesh over his shirt and the wound. He exhales at the contact when I focus that hand to connect the muscles and fill in the hole with him again. As soon as he is healed and the last of the veins reconnect, I pull away. He's stone-still, staying in the position with his head tilted a little back, stance relaxed but rooted and his lips are a sliver apart.

Will his lips be smooth, like a gentle soft press or a hard frenzied touch like the muscles I've just touched on the inside of him? At the thought, I squeak, drawing his attention and my hands flail as I turn, mortified and red-faced going into the hall. Jelamet laughs heartily and deeply with one look at me. I am quiet at our goodbye, he thanks me for fixing him up with liquid swirling in his eyes. He isn't blank but just above it as he is relaxed without any emotion expressing.

"When will I see you again?" He asks, "Name the day." I flush, tentatively looking at him and uttering the date, a little sooner than usual. Ten days away, rather than fourteen. "I'll see you then, Elizabeth."

"Goodbye Meliodas." He strolls away and I stay at the fence, watching him walk down the street. Some goddesses clear out of his way, while others are accepting of our mixed world not caring who or what is walking in their city. Before he has to change course toward the exit, in the distance, he turns back to look at the castle and he finds me. His arm rises up, overhead waving at me and slowly, I give one in return. We stand there, looking until another school of flying fish frolic across the sky. I point and he looks up, without his gaze pinning me in place, I leave him to go.

I like him.


	5. Chapter 5: A Detour

Chapter 5: A detour

That night at dinner I tell father about the development of my feelings. He looks contemplative before he sighs, resigned, with a soft smile he only ever shows me and my siblings. He admits, "I'm glad he is being very respectable and I'm pleasantly surprised by his behavior."

Jelamet improves. My sisters come for a visit and the world is full of color for a moment, with the pair of them home. We talk about everything that's happening to each of us, our plans and what we are doing. I am so happy to have something to share this visit but both of my sisters are concerned. Margaret tells me, "Be sure because you can back out of an arranged marriage in a number of ways." I know my duty though, and Meliodas is agreeable. I like him and that is more than others get in their arranged marriages. I wish it had been my choice, but it's fine.

Veronica though, she lists every bad thing she knows about Meliodas. That he disappears for days on end. He is lord over the demons, as his Father is king over all the lords, and she says Sir Meliodas settles violent matters with hand to hand combat. Veronica thinks it is barbaric. "Imagine not a fair-minded adjudicator but simply whoever is the better fighter would absolve a crime through a win." Then she goes on about how Sir Meliodas is gay. He has never been seen with another woman but has a tall handsome human he has been seen with numerous occasions but especially when he goes on his 'trips'.

The news had rattled me, as I liked Sir Meliodas in a way I hoped would be reciprocated. He likes to look at me but that doesn't mean he is interested. He seems to enjoy extending his visits but Sir Meliodas knows I am stuck here and that can be a kind gesture to break my life into manageable pieces. It would explain why he is closed off with me. That our relationship would be on paper, a face to the world but behind closed doors, it won't mean anything.

At this point in our progression, I can accept it. He can show me the world and we will truly be friends.

They left, Margaret taking a trained Sky Manta while Veronica shows off on her Wyvren. I'd been allowed in the city to see them off but it is Tarmiel that escorts me and there will be no detours to sneak off to see Mead or his family.

With things repeating as they do here, the days go by in a blur of gray. Eating alone, helping Jelamet stay healthy and reading novels. The only thing that breaks up the days are my nightly pleasure of opening up Meliodas' gifts. I had set aside a child's toy for Mead to give to his siblings when I opened the older gift. I have a pile designated for them. Another has a scarf of azure silk with a note that says, '_**I thought of your sapphire eyes when I'd seen this shining in the sunlight.'**_

It is pretty.

Before I know it, it is time for tea again. I decide on my sitting room for another game of chess but today Jelamet has Jennah chaperone telling me she wants to stretch her old bones. I frown at her back as she leaves me in the hall with Jennah holding the tray of tea. Our time won't seem right without Jelamet there to fill in the blanks or interrupt with a silly story about me as a child.

Today is different in an even worse way than Jelamet's choice to stay away. I set the table with Jennah. She takes a seat by the fire with a book and I wait, fidgeting with my dress, wondering if it matters what I look like at all if Sir Meliodas is only interested in men. I peer outside, noting it is later than usual. He should be here.

He forgot. My heart sinks, my hands shake and I stand in my sitting room with Jennah looking at me with concern. No, not him too! Then I feel the tension leave my body as I resign myself to this fate. Of course, he forgot me. I excuse myself when another few minutes pass and Jennah asks, so much pity in her voice, "Would you like me to clean up the tea?" I agree, and soon enough, she leaves me on my own like everyone else.

I had hope that it would be different with Meliodas. He'd built me up with his repeated kept promises. He'd even sent me a stack of books about demon history and culture when I'd mentioned how lacking the Goddess Library was of his clan. My casual mention of interest and he'd listened, listened well enough to think of something to do about it, then executed it. He'd been reliable, but now, slowly I let go of that view to fit him in the category with those who have let me down.

With a heavy heart, I opened the door to my balcony, walking across it to the railing. Without the clouds covering our backyard and city drop off, I can see the gardens and the tiny specks of green far below our floating island. I like the clouds, so I can disappear for just a moment... I raise my wings just to feel them stretch but I can't rise. No emotion flows through my veins to spark the drive for flight. I stand, always waiting, looking out at the tiny world below wishing I could be apart of it- when I hear the door open.

"Put some shoes on!" He rushes excitedly, and for a slow moment, nothing processes. Meliodas came? He's never sounded excited before. Blankly I take him in, from his messy hair to the blanket he has folded over the basket on his arm, realizing gradually- _he really came._ "Are you okay?" He asks. He steps towards me slowing until he stands a few feet away, his face easing into his zero calm while mine finally comes alive.

"Yes!" I exclaim, absorbing all the excitement he lost and I step to him, arms up to embrace him. His eyes widen in surprise and that alone, another expression on his face, brings me back to reality. "I... forgot myself." I correct, stepping away and we stare before softly and with his face back to showing me nothing he reminds, "Shoes." I walk around him and he follows.

"Why?" I inquire, having a guess but not wanting to assume. We slip into the hall, heading to my room.

"Lord Bartra _finally _agreed I am capable of being your escort. With me, you can see the world." My steps quicken at his worlds. I can leave the castle! I go to my room in a rush as I enter my closet. I don't even look, slipping on the first pair I find. "Today though, it's just the meadow under the city, I wanted Bernia for their ale but I think your father wants to test if I will bring you back." He speaks through the wall as he stays in my room. "Safely, I mean."

In no time at all, with us running through the halls we escape the castle, having passed a beaming Jelamet in the entranceway. When we're at the fence I pause, this is as far as I can usually get without the guards swarming. Meliodas holds it open for me, and slowly, I walk out. Together, we head toward the street across from the castle and... no one drops from the sky, no guards follow and I realize Sir Meliodas has truly set me free.

He is my ticket to the world. Gay or not, we can have a friend-marriage. He smiles at me and although I haven't stopped grinning since he showed up, it fades, my steps slowing until I stop, looking down a street. Meliodas backtracks, peering at me curiously. I reach forward touching his arm beside the baskets handle over his cotton sleeve. He looks down at my hand on him as I lean in, talking low and fast into his ear. He smells like fall with the faintest attractive scent of man musk. When I finish he stares into me, wide-eyed and clear.

"Lead the way." He relents, and I resist the urge to hug him, unsure if he will want me too. In its place, I give him a watery smile and the deepest heartfelt, "_thank you",_ I can muster. He nods, pupils blown as I point down the street and head that way. Sir Meliodas follows, looking around at the houses as they get smaller and less kept up. To his credit, he doesn't seem to mind, looking at me when I look back to him.

I knock twice when we reach our destination but the noise inside is alarming. I hear a yell cut through the chaos, "It could be a job, so shut up!" As soon as the gangly boy opens the door I throw myself into his arms, my head tucking into his shoulder. "Ugh!" sounds from his chest as he steps back in surprise, still managing to catch me. A shrill chorus of, "Ellie!" and, "We missed you!" fills the air as the kids swarm. There is a big pile of Mead and his siblings around me. I detangle, Mead's red face is scowling as he pries off his brother by his ear as he hugged me around the middle pressing his face to my chest.

"Ow. Ow! Mead, stop!" Markle complains and Mead pushes him toward the pillows on the floor in the living room. "I can't help it, they are perfect and soft and-"

"Shut your face before I break it." Mead threatens and I laugh, touching Millie's face and picking up Mable. Mae acts like she doesn't want to be a part of our reunion but I nudge my shoulder to hers getting a side smile from her. I look around and frown, where is Sir Meliodas? The doorway is open and there he is, watching me through it while leaning against the house opposite this one. "Oh." I walk out to him, Mabel in my arms as I take Meliodas' forearm and guide him in with me. He's tense and I am not sure why.

"Sir Meliodas." I start, "These are the only friends I have." I point, letting go of his arm to do so, giving names. At the end, I state, "Everybody, this is my intended. We have to get married for political reasons even though neither of us want that." I explain. Millie looks mortified at the idea, Mae though looks Meliodas over with a little appreciation.

"You don't look like a monster." She puzzles openly, "I heard the demon prince had darkness leaking out of him in waves." Mead smacks her upside the head but I snort, unprincess-like.

"I thought he'd be a monster too, but I think it's because we don't meet other races or demons often." With a smile, I turn to Meliodas to share in a moment but he has his head tilted down, face covered in shadows. Is he upset? She's just a kid. I step toward him, about to reach for him when Mille grabs it, getting my attention by pulling me. I look back and Mead is speaking to Meliodas, drawing him out of his upset.

We visit for a small while but when I peer at Meliodas, he isn't ever looking at me. After spending enough visits with him, where entire hours are spent with him staring, it makes me feel uneasy that he isn't. Something is wrong. Once I disentangle from the kids I go to him, touching his shoulder while he's showing Mead how to throw a proper punch, of all things. His eyes find my face but he doesn't meet my eyes. I ask if he's ready to go and he agrees. As we're heading out the door I tell the others, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how it ended, I wanted a different last memory and I'm glad we got one."

I grasp each of their hands in a squeeze as our final goodbye and with shoulders back I walk away with Sir Meliodas. My eyes fill but I smile to the man walking beside me, he'd taken a long time gathering the basket and blanket to grant me time to give them each a goodbye. We're silent as we reach the gate, getting many looks from the others as we pass but I don't acknowledge any of them. After the emotional ride with Mead and his family, I don't know how I still have any feelings left, but excitement fills me as we near the exit.

"Oh, Sir Meliodas!" I exclaim, my hands brushing at the front of my dress. "I've not been to the meadow for years, not since Jelamet was well." I hope to draw him out and slowly he turns to me, catching my eye and I smile kindly to him. His nose flares and he swallows before he nods in acknowledgment, his tension eases a little but his face doesn't give me a clue to what he is thinking.

At the edge of the city, we look down at the green, a cloud passing below and I smile turning around and kicking off. Mid-air I bloom my wings and for the first time in months, I fly. My hair in chaos and my dress dragging me down as if reminding me not to get ahead of myself, that I'd have to return. My emotions center, pinned by that thought and I slow to a float as if a slower descent will stretch my time out.

In the rush of the wind, I spin, looking up at the city and Sir Meliodas is looking over the end, watching me. I wave him down and he adjusts his load, hopping off with a powerful push of his legs and he's falling through the air after me. For a brief beautiful moment, I wonder what it would be like to be loved by someone and what it would be like to love them in return. To fall into your own heart. I sigh, knowing I'll have to be content with falling through the air, in the space where nothing lives.

My wings flicker from the emotional shift and I twirl backward kicking to force myself into a more manageable position. My dress hem slaps me in the face and my wings bloom from frustration to slow until gravity takes hold and my clothes right themselves. Meliodas has the opposite approach as he zooms past me, grinning with a widespread of teeth, his sharp canines shining.

Darkness shoots out as if ink sprouts from his back and then bleed down through the air to make wings. _He can fly._ A shiver of fear streaks through me from the fraction of dark power I feel from him but I try to tamper it down. It feels familiar and I get a flash of an image, of a rumbling dark cloud. He slows to step down into the meadow, graceful and practiced. A moment later I follow his movements and by then his darkness is gone, so I release my wings' power in reciprocation.

The ground is solid and immediately I take off my shoes, leaving them where they lay as I spread my toes through the grass. I feel him watching but he doesn't say anything. My chest relaxes, my head clears and I walk forward, heading to the hill. Sir Meliodas follows as I get lost in the beauty of the trees, wildflowers and herbs that make its home under the permanent cloud that shields outsiders from spotting our island in the sky.

"You were more at home with Mead than I've ever seen you in the castle with me." Sir Meliodas rasps and I catch my fly-away hair with my arm, I am hoping to understand how he feels about that statement but he gives nothing away.

"That Castle isn't a home, Sir Meliodas, it hasn't been for a long time," I whisper and his eyes grow hard. Or does the light change from the clouds shifting overhead? "My father keeps me as locked down as he can. He does have some reasons... but, it is my fault too. I didn't want to be any more a burden so I didn't fight it." I sigh, long and wearily. I have allowed the reigns to be cut shorter and shorter until it dug in too deep and gave no wiggle room.

"Well, there is one thing about our _marriage_ you can look forward too..." Meliodas starts, an edge to his voice I've never heard before. He doesn't look at me, instead, he puts the basket down and shakes out the blanket to lay flat as he speaks. "I'll never keep you locked away. You can go on your own adventures." His voice loses the odd tone, "I want you to be happy and free."

"I feel like there is something else you want to tell me." I guess having picked up on enough of his emotions. He gathers up the basket and he settles into a seat on the blanket. This is his opportunity to admit his sexual leanings- if he has any. I am not brave enough to ask directly, it seems personal. In his position, he may have a hard time talking about it anyways. The evidence isn't strong though. Veronica only told me circumstantial things.

"Like what?" Meliodas asks, his mouth thinning into a line and he seems to struggle to keep himself blank, but he does.

"Nothing." I smile and his face eases while watching me. With the basket out he opens it, setting out napkins and sandwiches. We eat a meal together, for the first time, and from the sun's positions I guess it must be around lunchtime. Our time goes by quickly today. "Will you have to leave soon?' I ask, hoping he won't.

"No." Sir Meliodas answers, eyes finding mine partially hidden under his brow and I'm relieved. I think he can tell because he goes back to watching me, his eyes following my movements once more.

When I finish my sandwich I refuse the cookies and treats, instead, I fall back over the blanket. I stretch my hands up and feel into the grass over my head. He clears his throat, scratching at his head and then he starts packing away the basket, fidgeting. When that task is done, he looks me over and then lays back to mirror me, at my side. His hands fold over his chest and we meet gazes. I flush having been caught but he turns to his side to face me, expression growing softer.

"Elizabeth, would you like to be my date to the Vampire princess ball?" He seems at ease but his nose flares and I realize I need to pick up on the little things from him if I want to understand him. I don't know what a nose flare means, but it does mean he has some kind of feeling about this. The pressure to go public? Or something else?

My heart races and I rise up on my elbows to openly gape at him.

"I want you to think about it as it would entail an overnight stay," my eyes grow so wide I fear they will fall out, "separate rooms." he rushes. His hand coming up as if to physically stop my assumptions. Does he mean 'obviously separate rooms because I'm not interested in you, or women,' or in an, 'obviously it's too soon for that' way?

"I want to go," I tell him, meaning it with every fiber of myself. I've never seen another kingdom and Margaret is friends with one of the Vampire royal ladies. When I was young, my sister hosted her a few times for overnight and day visits. "Who is coming of age?" I ask. It can't be who I am thinking of as she had been Margaret's age. Perhaps a younger sister or cousin? Meliodas shrugs.

"Honestly, I don't have the slightest clue, I just thought it was something we could do together." He smiles, giving an abashed chuckle. His eyes grow wide and a small grimace stretches across his mouth as he says warily, "now I just have to get your father to say yes."

I laugh, vowing then that I'd ask my father tonight before Sir Meliodas makes his attempt. It might save them some trouble.

We watch the clouds, heads closer and every so often, one of us would point and guess at a shape. A duck breathing fire, a stack of pancakes and my favorite one of the day is a genie lamp where Meliodas asks me to make a wish before it changes to something else. I don't say it out loud, but I wished Sir Meliodas and I had met differently, so we could have had a normal courting or none at all.

Forcing my hand made me feel like I have to force my feelings. I have a hard enough time with my emotions as they are! It's only made worse with me trying to separate obligation and disdain for the political arrangement of us to be together warring with my natural inclinations. '_Settle Elizabeth, this is your duty,' _and I try not to like him so much.


	6. Chapter 6: A Lesson

Chapter 6: A Lesson

I push my eggs around, making the shape of the Star of The Night from the nightmare I keep having. It had burst from the darkness and tried to swallow me up last evening. I'd woken sweaty and I am still a little shaken. Father hadn't come to dinner last night even though I had met with Meliodas and because of that, I sent a request through Jennah for father to come to breakfast. His chair sits empty and his plate is getting cold. I know because my food has long since chilled.

They wouldn't have set his plate here if he hadn't agreed. Something is holding him up.

My mind wanders to the novel on demon history I started. I have a stack to read but the writing is bland, tasteless in its formal and educational outlining. What stole my attention was the pictures, they still blow me away. Depictions of Purgatory and hellfires the demons escaped from are shining detailed scenes. I had stared in awe. The battles, inked in with swirling blood and vicious faces looked three dimensional in its shading like the fighters were popping out of the book. One, in particular, I can't seem to stop thinking about is a scene of a demon changing for something termed, 'The Calling of a Mate'. His eyes were black if you looked at the man from the right and yellow from the other side. I had turned the page back and forth trying to figure out how the artist had accomplished the feat. The hellfire around the man licked at his calves and I wonder if any demon alive remembers purgatory and if they are immune to fire.

It's said that the first of my people to arrive in Britannia were cast out of Heaven for their crimes. We are descendants of criminals. For the demons, it is the opposite. The demons here are descendants of those that left behind the worst of them to make a nicer world away from those that stayed. We are born of sin and they are born of hope. Somehow we've ended up here together.

Our history books conflict in a few places. Points of view of the author, I suppose, but it unnerves me that what I accept as fact may not be the truth. I look around, eyes landing on the family portrait over my father's empty chair. No one has the full truth, because every memory is different for each person. There is no logical outsider looking in to guide what story is told and passed down.

The door opens and I rise, picking up my plate expecting Jelamet. She always collects me, saving me from my lonely meals.

"No need to rise, Ellie." My father's gruff voice is laced in humor, laughing at me and I flush, happily surprised. He is dressed formally and I wonder if he has been up for a while. I resituate myself, smiling. He's here! "I'm sure you want to tell me about Lord Meliodas but I have something I want to discuss with you first."

Oh? He pulls his chair out, picks up his fork and takes a bite of eggs. He coughs, picking up his napkin to hack up his eggs into it. "Dear girl, how long have you been sitting here?" My father pushes his plate and fork away, focusing on me.

"I... it's okay. I'm used to waiting." I tell him and he frowns, reaching across the corner of the table to put his warm hand over mine.

"I'm sorry, Ellie. It was... is a hopeless situation for me." My father shakes his head, "I had no room to breathe, between a rock and a hard place with too many compromises." The hand over mine squeezes and slowly, he sighs, tawny eyes shining as he shows me his soft tender feelings in the set of his face. "Anyway, the matter at hand... I would like to assign you a personal guard, for your own safety. Sir Meliodas has made a fair bid for the task when he takes you on 'adventures' as he says, but I fear he may have over-inflated his abilities."

"I don't need one." I answer. "Why would I need one?"

"There are dangers out in the world, just for being a royal and for being the next queen, there are people who don't want our two sides coming together." His words are hinting at something and I wish he would speak plainly but I don't want to push him when I have a favor to ask. I want to see the Vampire Kingdom and if that means biting my tongue to keep my fathers mood, I will.

"I trust Sir Meliodas," I answer and after a long stare, my father removes his hand from mine and nods. "Okay, but if you go out in the city or to the meadow, which are both open to you now- after all the King's insistence." He shakes his head in exacerbation.

"The Kings insistence?" I puzzle. My father holds my gaze but after a breath, he exhales heavily.

"Lord Meliodas had been a young teenager when the two of you were... Uh, selected for the union." I frown at his choice of words. "You were a child. It had been me and the King, in heated negotiations for months before this arrangement was made. If your safety wasn't a constant priority... if you had received a wound too great or befell any other harm following that bastard of a tutor, you would have been immediately taken and raised in the demon kingdom under his thumb." My hands fall from the table and I lean back putting distance between my body and the words in the air between us.

It hadn't been my father's doing, keeping me away from the world? He had truly been buying me time, as he calls it. "Oh." I hush. Sir Meliodas had been a child too, so he wouldn't have been involved. "Did Lord Meliodas have similar... restrictions?"

"No. I didn't... have any _leverage_ in the negotiations. Outside of you, as cold as that sounds, I had to use what I could." Right. That makes sense. Silence falls between us and he scratches at his beard before he asks if I want to be escorted back to my rooms as he has duties to attend too. I shake my head, out of sorts but recovering.

"Yes, father," I answer, rising and I accept his arm, feeling the velvet patch on his sleeve. "I wanted to ask you something, anyway." On our walk, I tell him about the picnic Sir Meliodas had packed and how we'd stayed in the meadow until past dinner time. We are nearing my hall when I breach the topic of the Vampire's princess coming of age and how Sir Meliodas asked me to attend the event with him. "Separate rooms! A whole kingdom will be there watching us and we've been allied for years! Besides, remember that friend of Margaret's? It's a relative of hers."

"Gelda?" My father asks and I nod, remembering the pretty vampire girl with elegant blonde locks. I have a hazy memory of her braiding my hair in beautiful loops. "If you want to attend, I don't see a reason why not." I release him, jumping up to hug his torso in a squeeze and he stumbles to catch himself, laughing. "Separate rooms." He reminds and I laugh, my cheek to him.

The two of us part, him leaving me at the entrance of my rooms and giving me a rue smile. "Make sure to walk the night garden, Ellie. There are flowers that only bloom for the moon." He tells me, then his face twists up as he warns, "The cocktails in the black glasses they will be passing around are blood, don't take one." _Oh. Right._ I thank him for that knowledge, then I laugh at the face he makes of disgust.

When he goes, I head to my study to write Sir Meliodas. I am in the room, halfway to my desk when I realize we hadn't made plans when we parted. I'd been frazzled from his invitation as it had always been me to reach out to him. Had Meliodas been out of sorts as well? Or is he fine with waiting so long for another visit? Sir Meliodas said the Vampires Ball is over a month away.

Ignoring my doubts, I write about my father's advice for when we go to the Vampire's kingdom and briefly I thank him for the history books, referencing my observations on our different 'versions' of the same events. When I wrap up, detailing how grateful I am that Sir Meliodas is going against his father's imposed rules on my safety, I decide to send him a book about goddess history. I doubt he has read much on us.

I want it to be one that rivals the beauty in the one he's sent but I know nothing compares. Still, I go to the library and search until I came across one about the myths of my people. I found the stories elaborate stabs in the dark but very thought provoking. It has been a few months since I've read it but one story in particular always resonates with me. A goddess enslaved by the will of her people had overcome their demands with a trick. The trick had freed her but in the end, she regretted her actions as it doomed her people, introducing them to sickness and death. There hadn't been a way for her to come back once she'd left and the consequences were devastating.

Rather than tag the page, I put the folded letter in there as a bookmark, sticking out so it won't go unnoticed. I have so much parcel paper in my room from all the gifts and I feel better about reusing. So, I pick a gift bigger than the book I have and open it for the wrappings. Inside is a tome, leather and rich feeling titled, 'An Other Mate: A Demon's Reference Guide'. I leave the book on my bedside table, putting it under the other cultural novels he sent much more recently and complete my own gift to Meliodas. Comparatively, the novel he sent, however long ago, looks much nicer than the one I am sending now.

Without Jelamet around, I go in search of her. She isn't in any of her usual haunts and I miraculously run into Zenari. With all this space a random encounter is rare. I ask her about delivering a package. "I'll ask him if he got it, so no funny business."

"I understand." Zaneri answers blank faced. It hadn't been her fault but I am suspicious after my father kept everything of Meliodas' away. That couldn't have been an order by the king. My father's confession at breakfast explains much about his extreme over-caution and also made me feel worlds better about what I thought it was about, but it doesn't mean I excuse him for his role in this. Zaneri takes my package, tied with a ribbon rather than the twine Meliodas uses. I want it to be more feminine. The only ribbons I have are for my hair, but I used them anyway as they work well enough.

When she leaves, I continue my search and my heart drops when I find Jelamet in her rooms, laying in her bed. She's having a bad day then. She's sleeping and I clean her room, refreshing her washing bowl with new water, scenting it with jasmine. I go to the kitchen to gather an apple and a knife. When back, I peel the skin of the apple, letting them fall into the water for added healing and I dip the rag to wring out. I place it on Jelamets forehead and she wakes, opening her wrinkled eyelids. Carefully, I cut slices of the soft inside of the apple and she eats.

"Do you want me to heal you?" I hush.

"It's not a sickness, child. I'm old." Jelamet croaks, but I put half of the apple and knife on the table to rub my hands together in a glow. With my love I surround the two of us in my aura and it's like a cloud, misting magic rather than pinpricks of moisture. It's easier to let go of myself in its presence and I ease her aches, her pains and enliven her. We're on borrowed time and I want her last moments to be peaceful. I can ensure that. "Oh child, don't look at me like that." She croons and I gather the apple again but she takes the fruit herself, stronger now to sit and do it herself.

It's a few days later that a letter from Meliodas arrives. Inside he put an invitation to the ball, a kind of ticket and I look over the pink pastel, lace-covered, shimmering thick paper. Part of me had expected a dark masquerade but that is just my over-imaginative mind influenced by too many novels. After my father said there would be black goblets of blood, I had a picture in my mind that doesn't match this invitation's feel.

The first part of his letter outlines how he will arrive early the day of and the pair of us will teleport there with the Demon clan's mage. A piece of me feels a bit morose having to wait that long to see him but then his next confession in the letter gives me an idea. Sir Meliodas wrote of his day, of his hopes and troubles in his clan and how he doesn't know if his father has any influence over my father in regards to me but that he will, '_**look into the matter and take care of it'**_. Which I feel sounds ominous. He thanks me for the book, that he has read quite a bit on Goddesses but has never come across the myths. '_**If it's something that's caught your eye I'm sure to enjoy it.'**_

I write him a short letter, with my idea and a tentative date if he wants to come before the ball. With my heart racing, I find Jelamet before I send it to get her approval and she claps, telling me it is a wonderful idea. "You'll be fitted by then, we can give him a swatch to match with." I flush at that. You are supposed to match your date? I hadn't noticed at my own ball, but it had been female and old married couples only. Both of my sister's balls had been too, come to think of it. My father may put the blame on the Demon King for his imposed rules in my upbringing but my father had his own narrow-minded views.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

Margaret comes when the seamstress does. She wants to be fitted with me, as she will be attending too. "I requested our rooms be next to one another!" My sister gushes and it is sweet to see her so excited. She picks a gold dress, it sparkles and as she is being fitted, I am having a hard time selecting. I like the red satin one with the diving neckline and I like the burgundy one with the slit up the leg.

"Try them both on." Margaret tells me and I do, knowing right away which I like. I hadn't noticed the swooping, open back to the red dress and I fell in love with it on my curves. "This one!" Margaret exclaimed, leaving the lady with pins in her mouth as she adjusts the shoulder and cups one of my boobs to better situate it. She spines me to face the mirror. "You are a beautiful, kind woman and I'm so proud to call you my sister."

My eyes well and I fall into her arms, her glittering dress sparkling next to mine until something sharp jabs into my arm. We part, laughing as she goes back to her position with the seamstress and we speak of her temple. Eventually the topic turns to Sir Meliodas and Margaret frowns at my mention of Veronica's rumors. "Oh, because he's never seen with a girl? He's about to be seen with you." I take her words to heart, knowing I should just ask Meliodas.

Our time is up too soon and I accept my swatch. Margaret takes hers although her husband cannot afford to have anything tailored, she told me Gilthunder would be in all black. "We'll just use the swatch as a pocket napkin and that will be enough. It's not like we'll get separated." I walk her out after father has lunch with us. Our time reminding me of how it used to be and I'm surprised I don't ache after like I normally do. Is it because I have something to look forward to, or because I feel like I am finally joining the ranks of the living?

Quicker than before a letter is returned, short in his reply of, '_**I look forward to your lesson'**_ and with the tone I use in my head, I flush. How silly, I read it how I want to read it but I have already started thinking of my first night away from home and I can't deny my thoughts venture into a sensual corner of my mind. We can't, I won't. Not with how things are. We are still getting to know one another.

I take tea with Jelamet when she feels better, in the gardens as I can go into the city once more. Along our way home we stop to see Mead but it is just the children, which means the excitement stays high throughout the visit. Millie has to help pry Mabel from Jelamet when it is time to go and the girl breaks down into tears.

Healing Jelamet every couple of days becomes normal and on the day I am expecting Meliodas I request tea in the library as the floor there is wide open. Zaneri is setting up the tea while I struggle to push the heavy table against the wall, when Jennah announces my visitor and they walk in together. Flushing, I straighten, leaving the table crooked as I look him over. Is he more attractive today? Did he do something different? Same chaotic hair, similar loose clothing over his strong figure.

Everyone is in here. Jennah, Zaneri, Jelamet and the pair of us. He stares, looking me over before making his way toward me with purpose. I shift, uncomfortable until he adjusts his direction and bends to grip the edge of the table. "Where do you want it?" He asks, light and easy. Jennah and Zaneri excuse themselves and I point to the far wall. I expect him to push it but easily, with his grip on the side of the table, he lifts it off the ground. Jelamet gasps as he walks it over and sets it down with a soft tap.

"You're-" I flush, looking away, already embarrassed for what we are about to do. "Would you like some tea before we... begin?" I ask as I need the comfort. We sit at another table already pushed out of the way, facing the open archway windows that show off the garden. He's looking at me when I explain about our library, pointing to where I normally sit and where the best hiding spots are, remembering from when I was a child.

"Who were you hiding from?" Sir Meliodas asks, severe. I frown thinking of Master Twigo but it hadn't been long before he was caught and sent away.

"My sisters, it's... it's a game, hide and seek?" I query and he doesn't know it. I hadn't expected this to be our topic of conversation and I chuckle as I explain the rules of the game. His eyebrow raises at the simplicity of it and I ask what he and his brother played as children.

"We played with swords, or trained." He shrugs, "We did play this game with a ball, kicking it into a goal. You can only use your feet and it was a way to train... Of course, there was the normal kid stuff, wrestling, getting into trouble and wrangling chickens." He gives a wry smile and when the tea is gone I can't put it off any longer.

Jelamet laughs when I stare blankly at the table before me for a long moment and I shake myself into action. I stand and exhale a deep breath, steadying myself as I ask Meliodas if he'd like to start. Blankly, he agrees, standing to follow me. "I imagine it's similar to fighting, but... in this case, we'll be a team," I whisper, moving to stand before him less than a foot away.

Jelamet is situated up in her chair and I hear her clear her throat. "You'll have to touch me." I whisper, "Can I see your hands?" I request and he rises them both up in offering to me. I can't read him but he is here, complying when he has his own clan to run. I accept that thought for courage, touching the back of his right hand to guide it to my waist. He settles there, fingers spreading to get comfortable. It tingles, my skin coming alive and a soft warmness opens in my tummy like a blooming flower facing the sun.

"Oh, a waist hold." Jelamet notes from the corner. "Could have gone with the-"

"_Don't!"_ I interrupt the old mischievous fool but the warmth in my face already grows into uncomfortable levels. She snickers, plucking a string on her harp. Meliodas is smiling and I flush, filling the silence with, "You're in for a treat, Jelamet's played all her life and the sounds she can make will astound you." I take his other hand, slipping my palm into his. "Usually the man leads but for a little while, I will, so you can get used to the movements."

Tentatively, I rest my other hand on his bicep at the bend of his shoulder and the muscles are tense, like a bundle of cords under my palm. He looks nervous, his blank face slipping as his brows come together and his mouth remains parted, breath coming in and out. I might be projecting my own feelings onto him as I know I am trembling with his hand so intimately pressing to my waist. Strangely though, it is holding his hand in mine that settles the fluttering in my tummy to morph into a warm bubbling goo, calmer but more of something else. A new feeling I am just getting acquainted with.

The music starts and I... don't. I can't move while absorbing the feeling of having him so close. I stare, not into him as I will implode if he looks at me like he always seems to be but, at his hairline over his right ear. I had lessons about two years ago. They used to be the only thing to break the monotony, and learning something new in an open setting, under supervision, had been the only thing my father would agree too. I learned dancing, harp playing from Jelamet, self-defense from Zaratros, and a few other skills over the years from others.

Sir Meliodas doesn't complain, he seems content just like this and when the tingling notes make their loop back to its first pattern I whisper, "Okay... follow my hips, it will help." I watch his hair dip in a short concise nod, but angling down to stare at my core and I shift uncomfortably. He mirrors my hip movements and I flush, knowing he doesn't know just how embarrassing this is. I begin, slow. Jelamet changing the tempo to assist my steps with a lazy adjustment to her stringing.

We do a slow, first circuit, a full set of steps. I watch his feet and he is good at mirroring my body.

"It is like fighting," he whispers and I peek at him but he's still watching my hips. I shift again and this time, he doesn't mirror me but I see his smile. I bite my lip to stop the groan from escaping my chest as I know he realizes why I was reacting. I'm moving with the dance but the shift of my hips ease my growing warmth. This is just basic and I'm coming apart. I can't handle him dipping me or twirling me, his hands feeling around me will set my blood to boil.

Jelamet stops and we do as well, I step back and his hands fall, his face blank again. She gives a suggestion and I nod. "After this, I'll cut in and you play for us." Jelamet says, "It will be good to get these old bones moving again." I agree, looking to Meliodas.

"You play?" He inquires and I nod, asking him to raise his right arm. He does, straight up. I laugh.

"That's not what I meant," I smirk to him and I reach up to position his elbow to bend forward. I mirror him, stepping closer to touch our elbows and then our bare wrists. At the contact his fingers curve as if to grasp my hand but I explain, "We'll be moving soon." I thought he'd drop his hold but his digits roam up the side of my palm leaving trails of himself behind. I explain, stepping in a circle around one another and then, switching sides, going in the other direction. "We switch partners part way-"

"If we have to switch I don't want us to do this one." Sir Meliodas speaks and I relent, dropping my arm from his, his fingers slipping across the outside of my hand. Behind my back I stretch the fingers, alarmed at the warmth that spreads from his touch. Are demons usually this hot temperature-wise?

Jelamet stops stringing, standing and we switch places. She prefers the harp on its stand but I learned on the floor and it is a habit I continue to this day. It isn't a full-sized harp, that would have been impossible to move with just us, this is a Celtic harp. I pick it up, lowering it to the floor space. I hike my dress up, smoothing to a seat to spread my legs around the wooden curve of the instrument.

I hear a thump and an, "ow" from Meliodas that draws my attention. He is rubbing the back of his head, looking at Jelamet. Her scowling smile is in place as she motions for him to come nearer to her. "You'll lead me." She tells him, then asks me to play the piece I wrote. I frown, looking to the thin strings. "It may be the last time I get to hear it, don't deny an old lady her pleasures."

I mumble, "How many times are you gonna use that one on me, eh?" but I comply, scooching closer so the Harp rests on my shoulders. My dress falls up my thighs and I hear the thump again, but I don't look as I bring my hands up, stretching my fingers wide. "Give me a second, and I won't sing it." I demand, swallowing. Slowly, I hit the first cords. I hear the two adjusting and Jelamet commanding him, "Shoulder dear, I'm much too old to be taken by the hips." She laughs and it overcomes Meliodas' low chuckle.

The harp is something I've returned to over and over again through the years and I imagine what I always do with this song... the purple of the dining room. An endless fall into night, the last star in the sky flickering and falling to the earth to extinguish in a flash. I feel my chest start to close, my throat growing tight and my eyes fill. I stop, the notes fading too slowly as I drop my hands and sag my head against the wood of the harp. '_This too shall pass.'_ I breathe, shaking my fingers and I ignore what they are talking about as I pick up where I left off, sucking back my feelings. It helps to turn away from them, hiding my face with my hair. In the end, I disentangle myself from the instrument, fixing my dress. Any other song and I would have been fine.

My mood is off and I think Sir Meliodas picks up on it, as he asks me to walk him to the gate. I agree, remembering my dress swatch and I give it to him in the middle of returning the tables to their original positions in our library. "Red?" He asks and I flush as he looked me over. "With your creamy skin and silver locks... you could wear a sack and still outshine everyone."

Stupidly, my mind blanks and I cover my mouth from his compliment. He must like me, saying something like that. Flustered, we walk in silence through the castle and into the noisy, busy city. The back of his hand brushes mine and I move it, clasping my own hands behind my back. Sir Meliodas watches, giving me a small apologetic smile.

At the gate, where the city slowly starts to be covered with clouds beyond it, we face one another. Meliodas stares for a long moment and I hold his green soft gaze as long as I can manage before I dip my head to look at the tips of his shoes. "Thank you for teaching me to dance, Elizabeth." He tells me, a smile in his tone and I nod, stepping away from him.

"Goodbye, Sir Meliodas." I whisper, walking away. I don't look back, folding over on myself as I prepare to wait, but this time, for a ball and an entire evening from here. Even with my excitement I feel heavy and I breathe it away, taking my time being unsupervised for an entire walk home.

* * *

There is artwork for this chapter on my Tumblr blog! (My name is Jacklynnfrost there too). LeMaskadra is amazing and for the Big Bang event, we were paired and I am thrilled with how everything came out!


	7. Chapter 7: Take Me Away

Chapter 7: Take Me Away

Time goes by so slowly as I have something to eagerly anticipate. My father leaves for the human kingdom, expressing a need for another trade agreement. Zaneri takes over most of Jelamet's tasks over the next two weeks and I know she's been training to replace her, but I still hate it.

When the time finally comes it almost feels back to normal. Jelamet helps me get ready while grumbling about the mess I leave after a bath. She sits in a chair, and I on the floor, while she does my hair partially up. "Why must you thrash about?" She asks and I try to explain the dreams, suffocation and the Star of the Night. "I don't want to be afraid... so I try to face it, and all I have to emulate it is the water." Jelamet clicks her tongue as she smacks my head with the hairbrush.

"Ow." I mutter, but she doesn't say anymore, pinning and curling my locks. With my hair partway up, the open back of my dress is teasing when I move rather than a constant show. I pass on the necklace opting instead for smooth skin but I do pick small dangling diamonds for my ears.

I'm packed and ready far too early to be expecting Lord Meliodas anytime soon. I walk Jelamet back, she's panting so we stop in the great hall, in front of the massive star doors of the throne room. She leans on a warrior statue, complaining about her back and I rub it, glowing my healing into her. "When I'm gone, girl, you don't let any of these men boss you." Jelamet commands, turning to take my hand in hers, squeezing it as if to make her message stick. "Women have all the power. When you realize that, you'll accomplish things _great men _can only dream of." I flush under her words, knowing deep down that I need them. I don't have much time to consider them as a moment later the doors open to the outside.

Meliodas is speaking to a fully armored Dale, seemingly used to this occurrence and I wonder if he's had a guard escort every visit until I look Sir Meliodas over causing those thoughts to die. He'd chosen gray to pair with the red, I had expected black but find this much more appealing. The nice lines of his mid-thigh length overcoat draws the eye. With the silver buttons of his vest and matching collared shirt under them both, he is beyond handsome. Inside the pocket at his left breast is the splash of red that matched my dress and I giggle, filling the room with the sound because... Sir Meliodas is wearing _red pants_. Grey shoes complete the ensemble but as I look at them, they freeze in place. His foot still in the air and I rise my gaze up him, confused as to why he stopped moving.

His face is frozen, lips parted and eyes blown wide. Dale slaps at his shoulder with a chuckle and Sir Meliodas snaps out of it, his feet lowering to the floor just to rock on his heels. His eyes lazily roam over me and I flush, my arm coming around my middle. Jelamet asks Dale for some assistance to her room and the man laughs, agreeing. "Not too much fun now, kids." He warns and Jelamet scolds. "Have all the fun while you're kids!" She contradicts and I flush all the deeper.

"Elizabeth," Sir Meliodas speaks, as the two others hobble down the hall away from us. "You are exquisite beyond words and I fear it'll be like breaking my own fingers to look away from you." He steps ever closer and butterflies burst from their cocoons in my tummy. "I'll take the pain for such a reward as this..." His voice dips low and I hear something plop to the tile. I look, noticing his overnight bag cast aside. I freeze, afraid suddenly at what his next move will be.

He stops too and for a moment I feel like I am staring down a dragon, one wrong move and I'll be eaten alive. I stay, rooted, trying to cull the fluttering of fear inside me to a manageable level. "You... look very nice... too," I admit, flashing my eyes up to meet my blue to his cloudy green. He is blank, struggling with something before he swallows.

"Our mage should be here within the next thirty minutes." Sir Meliodas notes, his voice hoarse and I nod.

"Let me get my bag." I turn to escape him and in my retreat I hear him wince, low and tortured. I stop, looking back, anxious, but his hands are covering his face while his fingers dig into his eye sockets. That has to hurt. "Are you okay, Sir Meliodas?" I question. He drops his hands to his sides as if he hadn't just been trying to rip his face off.

"Of course." He chokes out, clearing his throat and trying to smile while keeping his face blank, which seems to conflict with itself. I nod, turning to the stairs and gathering my skirts to head to my rooms. I have a grey shawl, it looks like it will match and I want to bring it in the hopes that it does. He is early. Before his mage even. That means he likes me, right? I frown. Would we have liked each other, romantically, if this hadn't been pre-arranged by our fathers? Are my feelings tainted with the knowledge that he is a preset path I must take? I shake my head, that thought doesn't matter anymore, it can't, I had to make it not.

I gather my bag and my shawl, wrapping and tucking it into the loops of my bags as I make my way back to Meliodas. There are voices in the entrance hall, a woman I don't recognize and Sir Meliodas'. Have I taken that long? It hadn't felt like it. I glance over the railing when I reach the balcony that leads down the steps and Sir Meliodas' eyes find me right away. I smile.

"This is Lady Elizabeth," Sir Meliodas notes, his face following me in my path, talking to the dark-haired tall woman at his side. "Elizabeth, this is Merlin. She's the demon clan's mage and one of my oldest friends." I smile at her, and she gives me a nod in acknowledgment. Her eyes are light gold, her face thin and pretty. From her stance and ease at Meliodas' side, I can tell they are comfortable with one another. She's in a long black robe and as I reach the landing, she lifts her hood, shielding her face and I turn to Meliodas for direction.

"Let me take your bag." He offers and I pull my gray shawl free to pass the handles of my bag to him. Our bags match, both black, but mine has a blue bow sewn at the base of its side handles. I wrap the shawl around my shoulders, lifting my hair and clasping the thing around my neck. "Ready?" he asks and I look to the mage nervously.

I've never traveled by teleportation before and when Meliodas steps to my side, both our bags in his one hand holding them over his shoulder, I take hold of his other. He tenses and I release him immediately, apologizing as I move an inch away to make him more comfortable.

"No," he calls, and I look to him, confused. "No, here." He holds his hand up in offering, face a tad frantic. "You can touch me, all you want. Whenever." He amends and I stare at his palm, chagrined that this is unfolding like it is in front of someone I've just met. Merlin though doesn't seem to care, waiting patiently. I ignore his hand and lean into him, hushing as I tell him, "I've never traveled by mage, I was just nervous." I explain.

He nods, eyes lightening and his distressed expression eases but he doesn't drop his offered hand. When I straighten and it's still before me, I reach out, wrapping my hand in his so it won't be awkward anymore. Socially obligated. Yet, as I face Merlin I take comfort in it. I ease a bit closer as Meliodas declares us ready.

She snaps her fingers. The entrance hall vanishing, her voice calling out, "Have fun," before everything goes black and I spin closer as Meliodas is the only thing in the dark. For a flash of a moment our eyes meet and his jaw slacks as I reach for him with my free hand intending to grip the clothing at his chest, afraid he'll slip away too and I'll fall into the nothingness of space. Vaguely like my nightmares.

Then our feet touch down in grass, a new place in the world forming around us. As if the earth moved to us. I flush, embarrassed as I drop my outstretched hand, slipping my other from his grip as I bring them both to cover my breastplate for self-protection over my racing heart. To put some distance between me and my silly reaction, I look around.

We are in a courtyard. The bushes are cut into animal shapes. There is a cobblestone path a few feet to our right and the edge of the castle grounds don't have a wrap around wall like ours does. It goes on, into the distance for miles of green pastures. I step toward it, looking out at a sea of green. I slip off my shoes, forgetting myself and stepping forward, about to take off at a run when a pop sounds to our right. I flinch as another couple comes into view, the lady laughing in a large feathered hat with purples that match her husband's black suit.

Right, I have to act like a royal today. To be worthy of Sir Meliodas' arm. I step back to my shoes, finding them with my toes and I wedge them back on with a frown as subtle as I can muster.

"You really hate shoes, huh?" He asks and I shake my head.

"I just... love stepping on actual earth. The island has a buoyant feeling but here, it's like being anchored and the universe is moving around us instead of the other way round." I explain, leaving out the part about feeling real when I squish my toes in the grass. He gives a little, "huh" sound, looking up at the sky as if really thinking about.

The clouds are so far away up there and I only watch for a moment, turning to look at the castle looming behind me. It casts a shadow across the grass and I can tell that the place is massive. I gasp at the sight, pointing to the reaching tips of towers and then changing my mind to point to a row of gargoyles with long sharp teeth, then the stained glass window lit from the inside with a rose blooming in blue. My hand falls away, wanting to take it all in but finding something new with each angle.

Sir Meliodas steps up next to me, watching as well, ever patient. I grin, feeling as if I've never been this happy before as I turn to my charming friend. "Thank you, Meliodas!" I profess, exuding gratitude, and he's... frazzled. As if he doesn't know what to say. I laugh, looking back to the gothic architecture I've only seen in books.

Another couple pops into existence, she has his elbow and they appear as if they have walked from one place and continued on here, no falter in their steps. I clam up, realizing how improper and ill-suited I am acting and acted as I was nowhere near that graceful with his mage's teleportation. Sir Meliodas' hand brushes against the back of mine and I don't pull away this time, opening my palm for him.

"Madam, Lord." A voice calls to our right and I flinch back, nervous as if we are caught doing something wrong but simply holding hands. A lady in a tan smock bows and I frown, not used to that. "I am here to escort you to the ballroom, I'll take your bags to your rooms." She straightens, coming forward to take the handles from Meliodas and after a beat, he offers them. "Whenever you're ready." The girl turns, giving us her back and Sir Meliodas offers his arm and I tuck my hand through it to rest on his forearm as we follow her lead.

Inside, it's just as intricate but I keep pace with the guide. Peeking down the corridors to see statues, paintings and more stained glass and Meliodas chuckles at me. I shift my head, trying to cull my excitement. 'Act like a lady!' I scold myself. Our escort waves to the double doors we are nearing, the voices and laughter inside grow as we near. She turns to the left as we continue on, a woman comes forward to take my shawl and I help her with the task. Once free, the two doormen open the way with a flourish as I hear a voice call out, "Demon Prince heir apparent, Lord Meliodas with his intended, Third Lady Elizabeth of the goddess clan," by way of introducing us.

The noise inside the ballroom lessens to hushes and I think again, our titles don't match. Our pairing doesn't make sense, even for the union of our two nations and I'm sure that's what all these haughty royal faces are thinking. Margaret would have been more his age, the firstborn is always the one chosen. So, why me?

Meliodas leads me in. The ballroom itself is stunning. Dark black tiles shine like glass under our feet, thick ribbons are hanging from the ceiling with dancers entangled in the strips, falling to catch themselves and bending their bodies back to the top with twisted grace. I stare, mesmerized by their scantily clad selves moving so gracefully together in a beautiful show.

The decor is rich, tasteful yet the ribbons remind me of seaweed, waving in the water and with the glass-like floor. I feel like I am upside down on the ocean floor somehow able to breathe. Until the judging faces close in around me. Sir Meliodas guides me and my steps follow on autopilot. Their narrow eyes track me, sneering gazes stealing my capacity for breath. My lungs won't expand fully and when I hear an ill-concealed whisper to my right, '_He's never brought a date before and it's... her? He's had offers from-' _The sneer in the man's tone makes my shoulders hunch and I am grateful we move out of his vocal range. This isn't the vast ocean, it is my bathtub, the water holding me down and I turn to Sir Meliodas, eyes wide in fear as my panic grips me from the inside, nowhere to escape.

His hand wraps over top mine on his arm and he keeps walking, a curving circle around the room, ignoring those that call out for his attention. "I should have warned you, I forget sometimes that you've been kept from the ugly side of royalty." Sir Meliodas gives a sheepish smile, brushing against my skin with his fingertips. The sensations distract from the fist of horror still playing with my heart, squeezing. "You see, this is a chess game." He spins us in a circle, his hand leaving the top of mine to wave over the blur of faces.

We walk again, turning with the curve of the room and passing more faces, "Lord Meliodas, may I introduce-" and, "Oh, my dear friend Meliodas-", in our steady path. No matter what is said, he's intent on me and no one dares interrupt any more than the call of his name. Couples are huddling, expensive looking gowns are twirled and tan smock servants had trays with white goblets and black goblets. Is it blood, like my father warned?

"The prize in their game is more power. Everyone has an angle and tonight you are standing in the way of about ninety percent of these vultures means to their goal." I turned from the faces, looking into the green eyes staring into me. "For power, they are willing to sacrifice their own young daughters. Some parade them in front of me, asking them to sing and dance as if they are trained dogs to bark on command." He scowls. "For a father to do that to their child... in pursuit of power. It's a sin I can't forgive."

I flush, my chest squeezing all the tighter and I fumble in my steps. Meliodas straightens, holding me upright and he changes directions but I look at our feet. My shuffling and his sure glides a contrast that amplifies my doubts about us. I lean heavily into him. Hadn't my father been one of those unforgivable men? He told me he used me as his only leverage in the negotiations after the war, of our marriage. Had I been one of those trained dogs, at the age of five? Paraded about? Doors open, cool air tickles at my face and I wish my hair hadn't been pinned back so I can hide my face in its cascade.

The glass tiles underfoot change to stone and I know we are outside, already having to leave the party from that quick roundabout. My breathing eases as I look out at the gardens of rose bushes, towers of rounded shrubs, flowers in patches and marble benches. I stand on my own, releasing his arm and I frown, rubbing my own temples.

"Talk to me," Sir Meliodas pleads.

"I wasn't expecting... so much resentment," I whisper. I pinch my eyes closed, steel in my spine. This is my adventure and I'd be damned if anyone will stop me from enjoying it. "I'm prepared this time," I tell him, stepping to his side and tucking my hand through his arm forcing him to accommodate so we look like a couple again, just as before. "Show me your world, Sir Meliodas, I'll find something to admire."

I expect us to go but he doesn't move and I turn to him, his face is filled with... pride? I flush under his gaze and he smirks to me. "I hope so as all I can seem to admire is you." We re-enter the ballroom smiling softly to one another. I inhale a steadying breath, determined to fit into this part of his life.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Please, drop me a line and tell me what you think so far.

Also, I hope you had a wonderful holiday. Thanks for bearing with me as I took last Friday off. :)


	8. Chapter 8: A Demon Mate

Warning: Some Talk of Past Abuse in this chapter, non explicit.

**Chapter 8: A Demon Mate**

I grasp hands with _another_ duke, who brings my knuckles closer to his face to kiss when Sir Meliodas intercepts it. His hand plucking mine from the old man's grip.

"Duke Wellington!" Sir Meliodas chides in a joking tone, "I take offense to you making a move on my lady. I don't stand a chance if you're in the arena fighting for her affections with me." The pair laugh and I extricate my own hand back. The poor appendage has been sacrificed in squeezing grasps that pinched, weak dismissive holds and on three occasions now, this same joke. After the second man attempted to kiss my hand Sir Meliodas had whisked me away scowling while telling me, "Your allure is irresistible but I'll be damned if another puts their lips on that creamy skin before me."

The comment resurfaces in my memory and I grow warm, dipping slightly behind Sir Meliodas so his shoulder is before mine, between the couple and myself. I'm just starting to feel comfortable, with Meliodas at my side, even with his odd comments that keep me guessing.

That's when a hand touches my open back. I yelp, spinning to find a Meliodas look alike. Behind me, Sir Meliodas makes a deep noise in his throat, a growl? I am not sure but the meaning is clear, he is not pleased. This man and my date are very similar in build and face. Without having to be told I know this must be his brother, Zeldris. His black hair spikes out to the side and the dark black eyes with a mischievous twinkle set them apart.

"Lady Elizabeth," Zeldris greets, bowing and I return the greeting, speaking his name and I think it surprises him as he looks up from his bow, his black eyes finding mine. I hear Sir Meliodas excuse himself from the older couple and he spins a one-eighty to make us a group of three.

"What are you doing here?" Sir Meliodas' tone is deadly and a cold shiver runs up my neck. If I had been on the receiving end of that I would flee, but Zeldris' dark eyes don't leave mine and Meliodas' growl grows deeper, more agitated.

"I heard you were bringing her and I had to see for myself," his brother explains, looking me over with a slow assessment. I shift, uncomfortable, unsure what to do with my hands or how to respond. "I'm disappointed," he notes and I flinch, "in you, big brother," he continues. "You canceled our meeting with the Knights of Black, after the months it took to get them to agree, for a woman you aren't tupping."

While he is still speaking, Meliodas steps toward him, his hand wraps around the back of Zeldris' neck and he pulls his brother's ear to his mouth. I can't make out the words over Meliodas' strange chest rumbling but I can see Zeldris' strain and Meliodas' tense hold as if pinning him in place. The air grows colder, a dread settles heavy in my stomach and I look around, trying to find the source. Zeldris' dark eyes go darker as his face turns to mine and he captures my wandering gaze in his alarm.

"Sir Meliodas?" I ask, with a touch of a plea, and I brush my fingertips along the side of his palm hanging at his side. He releases his brother and Zeldris' resistance of the hold propels him back a step, but he catches himself just as Meliodas twists his palm around mine to take my hand. Our fingers intertwine. Meliodas smiles at me as the aura I felt blinks out and I breathe easier, wondering if it is my nerves acting up again.

"Elizabeth, this is my younger brother Zeldris, as you cleverly deduced," he introduces politely and to my surprise Zeldris re-bows as if granted a do-over. The cruel intent in his eyes I'd spotted moments ago is nowhere to be found in his black orbs. I play along, simply glad Meliodas stopped making that deep rumbling noise. After our re-greeting, Meliodas asks if I want to dance and I agree.

"When have you ever danced?" Zeldris inquires, shocked. "Do you know how?" His tone turns mocking and Meliodas chuckles.

"I know enough for this song, it's slow." Meliodas quips and he leads me around the people, away from Zeldris by our clasped hands. At the edge of the circle of dancers, he stops, taking my waist, my free hand finding his shoulder and he immediately leads me into the steps with no preamble as our clasped hands shift their hold to accommodate the change. "I'm sorry about my brother, he likes to push me. I can't blame him, I return the favor at every opportunity," he shrugs, his shoulder jumping under my palm as we move in a circle.

He is a quick study as he seems at ease leading me. His green eyes are clear and I smile softly as I tell him, "Don't worry, I seem to handle demon princes well enough." Meliodas smirks, doubly so when he pulls me against his body so our hips line up and my center is pressed to his. I gasp softly, my heart leaping with a jolt of excitement that rushes through my body like an all-systems alert. His lips part, his hand at my waist moving to my back and his fingers slip into the slit there, touching my bare flesh with his warmth. We stare into one another and I fumble my steps. Meliodas' eyebrow quirks and he looks smug for a flash of expression before he blanks.

"May I cut in?" A man asks and I turn as Sir Meliodas winces apologetically, "Actually the lady and I are just going for refreshments," but I detangle from Meliodas to take the man's hand squeezing it in both of mine. He is wearing a dark suit, trim in the middle with his broad shoulders stretching his coat tight. His eyes are blue, similar to mine, maybe a little darker. His salmon hair is ruffled and I know my sister's handy work when I see it.

"Gil!" I rush, grinning. "I worried you wouldn't make it." I drop my hands, turning to Meliodas and his empty face sparks an instant frown from me. "This is my sister Margaret's husband, Gilthunder. Gilthunder, this is my intended, Sir Meliodas." I don't look away from Meliodas as his lips tip a smile and his eyes shine back to life as he greets him.

I look around, trying to spot my sister in her sparkling gown and after a moment, Gil and Meliodas find a common interest. "We'll have to spar, just to see and after maybe we can train together. We're going to be family, after all," Gil jokes and I flush, turning from my search to catch Meliodas' guarded expression.

"We'll make a day of it. Have you heard of the Vaizel Fighting Festival?" Meliodas asks, refusing to look away from me when he addresses Gil.

"Oh good, you found her!" My sister's sweet voice chimes and I break our eye contact to see her pink with frustration, but it is fading. She hands Gil a white goblet after she takes a long sip from it. "You're stunning, Elizabeth." Her voice turns exasperated as she notes, "You're catching so many eyes I'm surprised you aren't being approached at every turn." My heart races at her words, warily eyeing around.

"I've prevented seven _accidental _gropings and tripped a man when he went back for a second after I stopped the first attempt." Sir Meliodas complains as if finally he has someone who can understand his struggle. Margaret gives a start, seeming to just notice the man at my side. I introduce them.

"Thank you for your due diligence, Sir Meliodas," Margaret smirks with a tilt to her lips that I know means she likes him. He laughs, his hand coming up to find that same spot at my back. His fingers play at my bare flesh. I grow warmer, exhaling in surprise. Tingles spread up my spine and I bite my lip, trying to hold the sensations as they wash over me.

A voice booms over the hum of the crowd, the sun is setting and the dancers on the ribbons above stop, spidering up to wrap their legs into a still split. "Ladies and gentlemen," a man speaks, his beard is thick, his dress shirt open down the front all the way to the buckle of his pants but it is tucked in. Somehow that does make it a touch classier. "The night has begun, we'll start the walks through the gardens to end our evening. Some of you have been invited to stay till morning to, at the stroke of midnight, witness my heir apparent and dear daughter awaken into adulthood." I frown at his words, dipping my lips to brush at Meliodas' hair.

"Why wait? Isn't the point to show her off to all of these people?" I ask. He tilts his face toward mine to answer.

"He's hoping the higher ranking members he's asked to stay take a liking to her before she's presented to any lower royals," he scoffs. "It's a game to collect the highest valued pieces still in play." His worlds are cruel but I know they aren't directed at me. I frown, if that's true, why wouldn't he use every... _pawn_ he has? I hate thinking of people in this way.

"Lady Gelda is his daughter, why isn't she heir or presented?" Or have I misunderstood and this is for her? Gelda is older, nearer my sister in age. Meliodas tilts his lips closer to mine and I watch them move with a growing warmth as he tells me, "Gelda was not born in his marriage, she's a lady of his court but her standing is below others of lesser blood because of the circumstances." His breath tickles at my cheek and down my neck, fresh and hot.

That doesn't seem fair. I shake my head, feeling a rush of nerves from our closeness as I bring my attention back to Lord Izraf. I've never seen him before but if this is the old vampire king, then he will be lord now. "Could he change that?" I puzzle, distractedly.

"He could have a while ago but it's been decided." He answers and I think of my own circumstance of birth, I had been adopted with no true bloodline link but I am the third princess, now simply a Lady. My sons will still be top of the list to rule in my clan, my daughters royal but only men can take the throne. If I had been legitimately born to my father and he decided against my standing, I am not sure how I'd feel, but I can't imagine Gelda being thrilled.

The king takes a hearty swig of his black goblet, pointing it when he finishes toward the doors that lead to the gardens, the way Meliodas had taken me when we first arrived. "May the night bloom as bright for you as it does for us!" When the sun disappears and it is just the candles lighting the place the vampires in the room seem to take a collective breath, a few eyes flashing in the dark. "Oh." The power shifts, the room growing stifling with it and I feel like a layer of sticky energy coats over my skin.

Meliodas' hand roams up and down my back as if to comfort but it's a whole lot of skin he's feeling and I shiver all the more. I'm unsure if my reaction is from the shift or from him testing our limits. Is he touching me for the people's benefit? He's never been so forward with me before.

Margaret and Gil talk about getting in line for the gardens and confirm with us they will be staying the night as special guests of Gelda. "We've been best friends since, well, since the day I met you, Lord Meliodas," Margaret's voice is tense, her eyes flash to my date with hunched brows as if the thought is unpleasant. "I remember that day, clearly, but it took years for me to understand it." She takes Gil's arm and leads him away chiding him when he turns back toward us as if to speak. He shrugs back at us, following Margaret with a smile.

"Well, we know who wears the pants in that relationship," he jokes and I simply tell him, "Margaret hates pants." He laughs but I'm thinking about my sister's words. Why hadn't she told me she'd met Meliodas before? If it had been when she met Gelda, it must have been when I was a small child... I frown, thinking.

"Have you ever had blood pudding?" Sir Meliodas inquires, and I spin to him, '_what? Ew.' _"It's actually not bad, come on, let's get some food while everyone else is lining up for the night garden." He offers his arm again and I take it.

"Okay." I relent, "but I won't eat blood pudding and I do want to see the flowers that bloom at night." He grins, giving a serious nod as if I've given him a task he takes to heart. "Done," Sir Meliodas promises and as we walk I notice we are going against the grain. Couples are going to the balcony, talking about 'what a nice time' and a preteen whines to her father, 'I want ribbon dancers for my coming of age celebration'. Meliodas and I walk through them, seemingly the only ones doing so, until we come out of the crowd and there is Zeldris struggling to disentangle himself from the crowd a few feet away. He spots us and heads over. Meliodas lets out a long sigh and I can tell from that they must be close siblings since it seems Meliodas can predict Zeldris' next action.

Sir Meliodas speeds up our retreat, dipping through the double doors open wide to show a joining room with tables of treats, finger foods and a more varied choice of drink. "Mel!" I hear the gruff voice of his brother and he catches up at a run. He slides in front of us, blocking our direct path.

"You've stolen a touch, I won't allow you to steal any of my time," Sir Meliodas speaks and with his strange phrasing, I hope that he means alone time with me. Zeldris rolls his eyes, explaining, "If you turn me away, I'll be eating alone a table over, staring at you two."

Meliodas looks up at me as if _asking me_ and I smile softly with assurance. "_Fine,_" Sir Meliodas relents, and I'm glad to see his kindness again, especially to his brother. Among the crowd Meliodas had grown colder, never mean but he has rarely broken from his blank expression and dismissive tone. I missed this version of Meliodas as our time had worn on with the others. The room empties with everyone funneling toward their farewell walk through the Garden. The sconces that light the room flicker firelight across the blue opalescent decor, the delectable looking treats and the floors dance with the reflective flames.

Servants in tan smocks clean up tables and wait with tongs to serve us whatever we select from the options available. As we make our way to the food, Zeldris complains, "I won't have anyone to go stag with now that you are with Elizabeth." I flush. Sir Meliodas hands me a plate, it shines like it is carved from a seashell and I watch the swirls for a moment. "How you got this lucky, looking like a chewed up teenager, I'll never know. If you ever want to upgrade, Elizabeth, let me know." I flinch, dropping my plate and with a quick snag, Sir Meliodas catches it before it hits the floor, returning it to me.

"Thank you," I whisper to Meliodas before frowning at the back of Zeldris' dark head. "You two must be close with how you two jab at each other," I note and both brothers snicker so alike I can't separate one's laugh from the other in the air around me. Meliodas puts a hand on my back, fingers finding their way to my flesh again and I shiver as he leads me down the long food table filled with dishes, towers of treats and dipping sauces. Zeldris piles on his food, a servant struggling to balance another thing on the heap of his plate.

I pass on the main dishes, Meliodas points out the blood pudding and I shake my head no but he holds his plate out for some. It dollops like pudding but I look away, grossed out. Everything else looks good, but from all the activity and acting so formal, my tummy is twisted in a knot that hasn't unfurled yet. I can't pass up the chocolate and I select a big piece of gooey, whipped topped treat that I maneuver to be center-plate. When I come to the strawberries I arranged them around my dessert so it looks pretty, simply because I can. Meliodas chuckles at me and I stop fiddling.

Zeldris has taken a seat at a round middle table by the time Meliodas is done, so we head toward him. Sir Meliodas pulls out my chair for me and I sit. When he takes his seat beside me, his hand brushes along my thigh and I freeze, warm and over sensitive. Was that unintentional? He asks his brother about a 'hunt' and Zeldris grumbles with his mouth full that it, "wasn't as thrilling as last year."

"Come to Heaven's Theater," Meliodas suggests. "I've been fighting there for ages. Bigs will let all kinds of things fly if you pay for damages and both parties are okay with it." Through another mouthful, he agrees, asking something so mumbly I can't tell what he is trying to say.

"Will you swallow your food or slow down?" Meliodas chides and I take the first bite of my dessert. I moan softly, and for a blissful moment, I enjoy the rich taste on my tongue. When I open my eyes, four demon ones are focusing on me and I straighten in my seat, unsure.

"Do that again," Zeldris demands, brows low with a devious smirk on his face. Something shifts under the table and Zeldris winces while his chair skids a foot away. "_Whatever._ Elizabeth, do you realize you'll taste like strawberries and chocolate," Zeldris tells me with the biggest grin, and Sir Meliodas' face shadows as he angles his hair to cover his face from me, before standing.

"What I said earlier..." Meliodas' intensity jacks up and I grip his arm. He lets me pull him into his seat again.

"Please stop," I plea to Zeldris, staring into him. "I've not been permitted to leave my kingdom since childhood and I would hate for this experience to be marred by some rivalry between you two." Slowly, he stands, moving his chair back in place and with a sheepish nod he apologizes.

"I swear, I meant no harm, Elizabeth. It's just never been this easy to rile my brother up. As a child, it annoyed me to no end that he never reacted and with such juicy ones the boy in me has awakened to play." Zeldris looks to Meliodas after his explanation. "Of course, I admire his steady patience to the point of attempted emulation." Silence falls between us as he sits once more. We eat in it, my fork taps minisculely against the plate, the only sound outside of Zeldris' chewing. I can't finish, it is too rich but I bite a strawberry before I think of how I can remedy this.

"What was Sir Meliodas like as a child?" I attempt to start a conversation and he groans in chagrin at my side as Zeldris laughs.

His answer comes quickly, "Much the same. _Intense. _Our childhood was during the war, it ended in our teen years," Zeldris starts, picking up a piece of bread, covering it in toppings to shove in his mouth. I hadn't thought of the war or the timing it would have played in their lives. I'd been born in it, but it was over before I'd been old enough to retain any memories. My childhood is shot full of holes as it is but I don't mind. Some things are best left forgotten, like the blank white gaps that surround Master Twigo's crimes to my young body. "He jumped from one single focus, of ending the war, to another as during the treaty he-" Another shift, another wince, and Zeldris is pushed back even farther than before as his chair skids across the tile.

I bend, looking under the table. Meliodas kicked him, it is the only logical deduction. I frown, looking up at Meliodas and he gives me a smile paired with a shrug. He's cute when he's trying to act innocent. "Be nice to your brother," I reproach, eyeing him sideways with a smile. The rest of our meal goes much smoother. Zeldris asks about me, my family and my life and I find myself trying to answer as best I can while the two brothers seem to devour every last crumb on their plates.

Meliodas tries to get me to bite the blood pudding but I won't. A vampire man takes our plates, pale and platinum blond. After, Sir Meliodas offers his hand to me, to assist me up. He's back to touching me when he leads. He's always looked and stared, but in my normal daily life I can go days without touch if Jelamet had a string of good days and didn't need assistance. To be glutted with touch, I feel as if I have already reached my limit and with each brush at the flesh of my back, or grasp of my hand I feel a chasm in me deepen.

The ballroom is thinned down, the dressiest of the rich and royal remain. We are in the doorway, having returned from our meal when a man trailing his young daughter behind stopped us by coughing to get our attention. Sir Meliodas told me earlier he steered me away from meeting the vilest of the leeches, his words- not mine. He hadn't introduced me to this man but I had seen his dark looming head try to narrow in a few times.

He speaks, his voice low and wheezing, "Lord Master Meliodas, Lord Zeldris and... Lady Ester, right?" He asks. I open my mouth to correct him but he's already moving on, "May I introduce my lovely daughter, Lady Ellen." The little girl steps forward, brown mousy hair and nervous shining eyes. Her small frame is quaking as she looks up at us, each in turn before speaking a sweet greeting with her voice trembling. "Ellen, didn't you want to recite to the Lords the poem you composed? She's so sweet, she's been talking about it for days."

I flush, my stomach dropping. This was what Lord Meliodas had been talking about, he is showing off his own daughter like a prized pony to assess his highest offer. The girl's small fingers tuck her hair behind her ears and she recites her poem with practiced, stilted repetition. She's been dressed and arranged to perfection. Hair pleated, her frilly pink gown silk with lace that looks like it cost sacks of gold. When Ellen finishes, her father claps once before pushing the girl off to the side to zero in on the Lords with talk of their upcoming negotiations for trade and how beneficial a more lasting bond between the two clans would be. Ignoring this, I step around the man, kneeling before the girl Ellen.

"I'm Elizabeth," I tell her and she smiles at me, shy. Her nervous eyes darting to her fathers but he's not paying her any attention and her shoulders dip without the pressure. "When I was a girl, about five, I was bartered away in marriage," I say to the girl, her eyes shine as she looks to me, surprised. "Truly, I'm betrothed and at the time, to a man I hadn't met. I just want to pass on some wise words an old woman once told me... If you don't want to do something, then don't, but be sure it's something you don't like because once it's gone you can't get it back."

"I only like horses." The girl confesses and I giggle, nodding.

"And poetry too, it seems," I answer and for a few moments, we talk about our favorite poets. It's uncomfortable crouching at her side but I endure as her face lights with delight when I finish a stanza where she leaves off. "I'll send you a favorite book of mine, it's a compilation of a bunch of different writers. Perhaps you can join me for tea sometime and we can talk about-"

The girl's arm is grabbed and the man is furious as he pulls her away. Ellen doesn't seem shocked, resigned to her fate and I have a flash of my own young face in hers. Ludociel, Tarmiel, Hendrickson... a slew of guard's faces appear in my mind having done that same move to my own arm over the years. The same shoulder seems to ache as if it remembers too. I won't forget to send her poems, but I doubt her father would allow a tea time with how he just acted.

Sir Meliodas offers his arm once more and I take it as we move into the ballroom, the dancers are moving again on their ribbons. Gil and Margaret have returned from the gardens and her flushed cheeks give away her pleasure from the experience or the amount of wine she's had. Zeldris follows and our groups are heading toward one another.

I ask Meliodas who the man had been that stopped us but he scoffs, telling me, "No one of any importance." I want to know so I can figure out which clan and how to send the girl the book and I frown at him. He looks confused but my attention is drawn away when Margaret and Gil stop before us and I introduce them to Zeldris. Our greetings are short as Lord Izraf booms his announcement, demanding attention.

"The time has come!" his voice fills the room and I note he has blood on his bare chest now. I flush, until two servants come from behind him, carrying a large tub and when it sloshes I see the red thick liquid and know what that is right away. "Oh," I exhale.

It's placed before the Vampire Lord, "My daughter shall be reborn through our traditional blooding." He steps into the tub and he calls out, "May I introduce Ren, my beloved daughter, and heir-" The door opens behind us, surprising me and our group. I turn, Zeldris scowls as he adjusts at Meliodas' other side. Margaret comes to my side with Gil pulled along so we are all facing the long white carpet before us. It hadn't been there before we'd gone in to eat. Other guests are on the other side of it, facing toward the doors that have opened, others press in behind us as I hear their murmurings.

Walking down the aisle is a dark-haired beauty, naked as the day she was born, wearing only a long veil. She's thin and I flush, looking away and catching Meliodas' eye, who is staring up at me with wide shining emeralds, he says, "I wasn't expecting that." Murmurs start and I giggle softly until Margaret nudges my arm and says, "Ren chose Gelda as her second, look."

I do, and I see the blonde-haired beauty, braid long over her shoulder, dressed in a flowing gown of black holding the back of her half-sisters' veil so it doesn't hit the ground. That's when a few things happened at once. Behind Gelda is a man in a tan smock with a strip of cloth over his forehead, holding towels, that I recognize. My heart drops. My grip on Meliodas turns desperate and my other hand comes around to grip at his jacket over his heart. The air changes, chilling and a dark burst of power come from the other side of Sir Meliodas.

People scream and I scramble closer to the man at my side as I grip him, fear coursing through me as if I am a child again, brought back to the state I was in when I'd last seen that man. The power that erupts around me is an afterthought. "Master Tw-." I cry softly and Margaret spots him too, gasping as her thin arm rises, shaking and pointing. He steps closer and closer, following the girls track down the carpet and with each step, my shaking grows stronger. The four-year-old me revives to take over my body and face her darkest fear.

"She's the Demon's Mate!" someone screams behind us, "Get out of his way!" another howled and the Vampire Lord booms with pride, "Ren! My own heir has awakened a Demon Lord!"

Over my years I've thought of so many things to say to this man if I ever saw him again. How despicable he is to have preyed on young girls. I had a whole speech prepared where at the end I condemn him, forcing him to show me the brand my people had burned into his forehead with our light. Instead, I cower into Meliodas, and I hate myself for it. A dark miasma starts filling the room and I watch Twigo's round face look alarmed before he backs away from the vampire royals to escape the way he came, towels abandoned on the white rug.

My eyes pinch closed and I fall into Meliodas, my face pressing into the side of his jaw. Twigo has left and I can breathe again, becoming aware of myself. When had Meliodas' arms wrapped around me? I feel him lift me and in a rush of movement, too fast for me to follow, we go. The screams fade with the distance, the miasma is gone and I know it's just him and I sitting outside, me across Sir Meliodas' lap. I can feel the cool night air at my back and I want to let him go but I'm still shaking.

"Tell me what you're thinking," Sir Meliodas says nervously as if he's pleading and... I don't want to. Not because I don't want him to know but to admit my failure? My inability to even _stand on my own _in the face of someone like Twigo. _Useless_. I shake my head no, releasing my death grip on his jacket and my hands slip from his arm and torso to flop where they fall. "Did Zeldris... when a demon finds their-"

"No," I whisper, feeling silly sitting on his lap and I shift my leg down off his knees to step to the ground and twisting my waist to slide off of his thighs. The stone bench under him is big enough for three and I ease into a proper lady's position, looking around. The moonlight reflects off the now open blooms of blue star-shaped flowers all facing the moon like worshipers glowing back at their god. The garden is stunning and I do a full rotation to look behind me at the castle and that too is amazing in the dark as it is glowing from the inside.

When I meet Meliodas' eyes, staring into mine with his lost expression, on his usually blank face, it shakes me. I feel like I am the fumbling four-year-old again and I _do _want to tell him. I can trust Meliodas. "When I was a girl, I had a tutor," I start, getting a flash of the nursery rooms and looking up at a massive, rounded man with fear. "Master Twigo, the man in there, the servant following Lady Ren and Gelda... I never expected to see him again." Sir Meliodas nods, but his brows are furrowed. I am being too vague, avoiding it.

"I was so small, I don't remember a lot of it. I don't _want_ to... but I was terrified of him." I take a breath, finding it easier while staring into Meliodas when usually I feel too overwhelmed by his gaze. "It was right after our family unexpectedly became the royal one, when my father's cousin died. A lot had been going on, people were busy and the three of us siblings were overlooked from the changes going on." I sigh, knowing this is why my father kicks himself so much.

"He, uh... well, the only things I remember is taking lessons. I'd have to get naked and we couldn't start learning until he..." I frown, furrowing my brow as that is all there is to the memories of Twigo. The night grows colder, darker as if it is closing in around me. "I don't want to remember and I'm glad I don't-"

"That man, with the head wrap? He was the one that touched you?" Sir Meliodas asks in a thick rasp, eyes burning in something fierce and my heart palpitates rapidly from his demeanor change. "He'd escaped while in transit. He had been intended for our prisons under my father after your people branded him." The way he is talking... he had already known what had happened to me? Sir Meliodas stands, shoulders back as he faces the castle with an expression of pure wrath. He takes a solid step away and I panic.

"Don't leave me!" I hush, just above a whisper and I follow him, looking around the dark garden, not with admiration, but in suspicion. There are so many places to hide. Absently, I reach my hand forward to his, taking it and his warmth spreads through me like hot tea, absorbing into my bones. He inhales a deep breath, steadying.

"You've had a long night, let me see you to your room." Sir Meliodas speaks kindly but with an edge that warns me, there will be no discussion. I know in my soul I am not damaged, as a man can't change a woman simply because they don't have that kind of power, but if Sir Meliodas looks at me with pity, like so many in my family do... It will change how I feel about him. My growing fondness will seize, our friendship will mellow.

So I don't look.

We walk through the garden, coming to a side entrance and a tan smock servant opens the door for us, asking if we need an escort to our rooms. I squeeze Meliodas' hand, hoping he won't send me off with this helper but he says, "I know my way, thank you," and we head in a direction. I don't want to be left alone when I know Twigo is around. Before I'd been eager to look at everything but now I stare at my shoes and follow Sir Meliodas' lead. We enter a hall of doors and he points to the one at the end, telling me that is his door and mine is across from his, directly.

Then, as if I just now process what else occurred while my world had crashed around me in the ballroom, I freeze. Zeldris has found his mate. It is rare for a demon to have a mate but in upper-level ones, it does seem to happen more often. Sir Meliodas, for the first time, doesn't patiently stare and wait. He moves, dipping his face to intercept my gaze and he inquires, "What is it?" gently as if I am a moment away from running. My death grip on his hand is a good indicator that I will not leave him.

That doesn't mean he will not leave me.

"One day, when you find your mate," I start and his eyes grow wide in alarm. "What will happen to us?" Will our marriage even still hold? A piece of paper formed from a treaty to end a war that has been over all these years, our world is peaceful as it is, without our union... I frown and a strange regretful groan sounds from his throat.

"_Elizabeth!"_ A chiming voice calls out and I turn from Meliodas' severe face to see my sister, her dress hiked up in her hands as she runs to me. "I was so worried, with Master Twigo-"

"Will you take her for me?" Meliodas interjects, moving our joined hands toward Margaret, offering mine for her to take. Gil is rounding the corner of the hall behind her and I release Meliodas. He moves with confidence around us, heading the way we came, toward Gil. My sister takes me in her arms and I hug her, reassuring her that, "Sir Meliodas has taken care of me, I'm fine." Yet she fusses, pity on her face and I frown, looking to Meliodas. He's speaking to Gil, but as if my gaze draws him, he looks to me.

Margaret promises to help me get ready for bed and to stay with me for as long as I need. I nod, absently.

"Do you need my help handling him?" Gil asks, "Or Zeldris? Margaret and I have done a lot of research on demon mating, any assistance you need, I'm your man," he states and Meliodas gives him a quick once over, assessing.

"I need you to protect Elizabeth," Meliodas requests. "Can I rely on you?" He's serious and Gil takes it that way, nodding eagerly as Meliodas turns to me again.

"We have Elizabeth," Gil declares. "For you to ask that of us, it's- of course." Meliodas doesn't look away, staring into me but he nods infinitesimally in acknowledgment of Gil's words.

"With Zeldris' mate awakening him, at least we didn't have to watch a strange naked bloodbath between Lord Izraf and his daughter," Margaret notes with a shiver. I feel it as she is still in my arms, nervously trying to fill the silence. But my gaze is locked to Meliodas', something is happening between us. Is Sir Meliodas going to bring Master Twigo into custody? He is a wanted criminal...

"Will you let me know when you're back?" I ask him. "I'll feel better knowing you're across the hall." Meliodas nods, green eyes flickering to black, deep in so many feelings but I smile as I do not find pity in him. Anger, _sure,_ tons and tons of boundless anger, but not a drop of feeling sorry for me.

"It'll be late when I return, but I'll knock," Meliodas promises, stepping back from Gil, spinning smartly on his heels and he leaves me behind.

"Be careful!" I call out softly and his steps pause, his face moving over his shoulder to give me one last long look from top to bottom. Then he's gone. My sister's hand runs up and down my back reassuringly, feeling so different than how it had when Meliodas had done the same movement. We head to my room, a cozy suite with a big bed and my black bag with the blue bow is here.

I remove my dress and find my pale pink pleated nightgown. Margaret helps me unpin my hair and I return the favor, the two of us talking like old times. She's sitting between my legs, me in the chair she had just vacated when our talk turns to the event I'm sure everyone is still buzzing about. "Seeing Zeldris awaken, it looked different this time, not so scary."

I frown, "When have you ever seen a demon find their mate?" Margaret winces when I tug too hard on a hairpin and I apologize, smoothing a thumb over her skull.

"A long time ago. It seemed so overwhelming then, but I suppose through the eyes of a child things aren't as reliable." She notes. "Gelda didn't look thrilled to be on the receiving end but I'm sure when it's an outside species they never are."

"_Gelda!_ I thought it had been Ren." An image of her naked in her veil comes to mind and I shake my head. I shouldn't judge someone's culture. "Lord Izraf is probably so upset it wasn't Ren, I heard him booming about his heir catching the Demon Lord!" We laugh at my words, talking about Gelda and our hope for her. "I guess it would be overwhelming to have someone instantly in love with you, while you don't even know them. I hope Gelda's okay..." I muse. Margaret gives a nervous laugh. I finish with her hair and she thanks me.

It is late, Gil is waiting and I know she's tired. Their room is next to mine and I remind her of that when I walk her reluctant form to the door. "I'll rush over, or scream, if anything happens," I reassure Margaret. "Meliodas will handle it, I'm sure of it," and she retires as well after I insist for the fourth time that I am going to sleep.

Alone in the gray room, I pull the comforter free from its perfect tuck-job and situate myself over the pillows on the bed, looking up at the flat white ceiling. My eyes grow heavy and I try to stay awake to hear the knock Meliodas promised but sleep creeps in. I hope Sir Meliodas isn't angry with me. Our night out ended in a lot of work for him. Will he be called away to handle the proceedings?

Slowly I think of something else that happened tonight. He didn't answer me... which is its own answer, isn't it? He wouldn't be able to help leaving me if his mate comes along. It isn't like he chose me. We are assigned one another.

I can't be truly upset about it.


	9. Chapter 9: A Night to Remember

Chapter 9: A Night to Remember

Sticky, globs of darkness slime over my skin. The open flower field before me falls away as if the ground is crumbling under me under the muck. Night bleeds over the day too quickly to be natural and I struggle to pull free of the black ooze. The ground cracks and falls into the night. I have to move, to get to higher ground before the shaking earth under me starts to break open too.

But, it will not let me go.

I spin, digging my heels in to heave with my thigh muscles but the Star of the Night is there and I'm caught in terror. A twisted, circle of black with tendrils cracking across the sky moves nearer. It's the source of the taint in this world. The glob takes advantage of my seized limbs, climbing higher and my feet are taken too. It eats me, climbing up with sick slime, leaving me cold. I can't feel the limbs it's swallowed but I can hear the crashing of crumbling earth behind me.

I'm useless. Why fight it?

The time comes for me to submit but I... won't. Something inside of me snaps. I root my stance, tugging and trying to purify the darkness to evaporate or at the least to make it leave me alone. The star cracks larger, its points growing longer and I silently struggle. '_This too shall pass.' _I chant to myself, but the globs are at my neck. Just before it takes my face, coming forward like a jelly, I inhale a breath to hold as it pulls me under.

I gasp, waking with a start, sitting up tense as my racing heart redoubles its rhythm as I forgot where I am. This isn't my bed, this isn't how my castle smells and suddenly I'm uncomfortable with the world being still under me. I am used to floating, being buoyant, and thinner air. Without much thought, I rise, pulling my blanket and my pillow from my bed, bunching them in my arms. I leave behind my grey room, rushing across the hall as if ghosts are lapping at my heels having escaped from under the bed.

'_You are a grown woman!'_ I chide to myself yet when I reach the door to Meliodas' room, I twist the knob as silently as possible and creep in on my tiptoes to shut the door as quickly as I can while being quiet. Inside, I already feel better, my twisting stomach relaxes and my racing heart slows. With a spin, I look around. His room is the same as mine, only all the furniture is facing the opposite way. It is like walking through a mirror and coming out reversed.

Meliodas is on his bed laying on his side over the covers with one pillow mashed under his arm and another squished under his head. He is shirtless, a pair of black pants over his hips and I flush when I look over his back, torso and naked arms. It must be all the fighting, his muscles are deep valleys and my fingers twitch from want to feel them. I shake my head, stepping toward him but stopping at the rug alongside the bed.

The floor will be fine. I set my pillow down and as quietly as possible I spread out my blanket. I kneel about to lay down when a gruff voice calls out, "What are you doing?"

"Eep!" I flinch, my wings blooming into existence and I raise off the ground in alarm. Slowly, I lower my feet to the floor and I shake, my wings blinking away. "I don't want you to think I'm a child..." I start, flushing as I know that's exactly what I am thinking about myself.

"I don't," he gruffs, moving to a seat, pushing the pillow from under his arm out of his way. His bare chest steals all my attention and I marvel at his dark nipples, contrasting against all... that... flesh. I shiver, looking away.

"I've never been overnight anywhere," I explain. "I have this bad dream _often _and I had it tonight but I don't have my usual way of letting go of the feelings, the terror." As if I would get in a bathtub here to try to drown the darkness out by screaming into the abyss to leave me alone. '_Drama much, Elizabeth?',_ I shake my head at myself as I come to sit down on the blanket I spread out on the floor. "Can I sleep with you?" I ask.

"Why not go to your sister?" Sir Meliodas puzzles, his voice is still husky with sleep and I frown, upset I woke him.

"She... hadn't crossed my mind," I admit, my voice dropping to a whisper when I add, "Gilthunder is there with her." I don't think my face can handle this much heat as he chuckles softly. With my bangs between us, I look and he's scratching the side of his head, smiling at me. He stands, pulling first one and then the other pillows from his bed. "What are you doing?" I question, as he steps towards me.

"You take the bed," he demands, snagging my pillow and throwing it over his shoulder to plop on the bed. "Up, or I toss you too," he jokes, I think, and I scramble to a stand in case he's serious.

"No, I can't!" I tell him, but he's gathering my blanket. "I'm already intruding and-"

"You get the bed," he insists, firm and when he turns he reaches for me.

"Oh!" I back up, clambering up on the bed and I freeze, on my knees in _his bed_. I've never been in a man's bed before. Meliodas plops my blankets beside me, then he sits on the floor. With no preamble, he falls back, head on his pillow and he looks up at me as if waiting for something.

"Thank... you..." I whisper, still not able to move my body. I shouldn't have come here. My eyes pinch closed as I realize the position I put us both in. Will I sneak out in the morning? I need to go and I frown, about to say just that when he speaks first.

"What was your nightmare about?" He hushes, "When my mother was alive, she told me the only way to escape nightmares is to talk them through." I grab my blanket, pulling it to cover myself up, wiggling to lay down close to the edge so we can still look at one another.

"What was she like?" I ask and he shrugs.

"I was a child when she died. I... remember she smelled like sawdust. Isn't that strange?" He questions and I smile.

"No. I was young when my mother died and all I remember is her hair would tickle my nose when we hugged." I smile, softly. "Do you think of her when you smell sawdust?" He nods, "I think of mine when my nose itches in a certain way." I shrug, moving closer to the edge of the bed. It's quiet, the moon sending a glow through the room but neither of us shut our eyes.

Silence spreads, but it feels nice with company, with Meliodas.

"Tell me about your dream," he whispers, low. I frown, knowing I won't be able to explain it well enough for him to understand.

"It's... abstract," I start, and I really try. I go on about the Star of the Night, it cracking, and the encroaching darkness. "Like a rolling storm, reaching for me and I feel... this overwhelming dread like nothing will ever be right in the world." I start on the globs and the world falling away and how sometimes I'm overtaken. The vacuum of space is hard to articulate, I stare at the decorative vase on the thin table on his far wall as it is easier to describe it without looking at him. When I finish, I turn to him and he is wide-eyed, staring up at the ceiling. "Are you okay?' I ask and slowly he nods.

"Would you draw the star shape for me?" He asks and I nod, telling him 'later' as this spot over his blankets is warm. It must be terribly uncomfortable for him. The floor, only two pillows and nothing to cover up with. I sit up, looking over his still tucked blankets under me over the mattress. I move over, taking my pillow with me and leaving my covers. I pull the top corner free and slip under, arranging myself. This might work.

"_Okay," _I hush, out loud to my own thoughts and I take a deep breath. "We can share, just... stay over the covers." I whisper and in a flash I hear a 'hup' from his effort to jump up. He is in the bed in a blink. His pillow is under his head, another under his arm and he's on his side, facing me before I even finish my sentence. I tuck farther under the blankets with his intent stare, his face is blank and I find that harder to deal with. When I try to close my eyes, I can feel him still looking and I peek. He is still staring at me and I bite my lip, nervous. "I've never shared a bed with a man before," I admit.

"Hmm," he hums, a lazy smile spreading across his face. I close my eyes, feeling safe and every time I look to see if he's closed his eyes, they are locked on me. "Go to sleep," he hushes so softly it's like a caress down my spine. I shiver, nodding and I grip the tight blankets trapped from it's tucking around the mattress. This would keep us separated.

Sleep claims me, and it is a gentle tumble into unconsciousness. As if I am lowered into a warm bath inch by inch. Meliodas' steady breathing lulls me into a safe slumber.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

I feel like I've slept for days when I awaken. I'm hot. My head is rising and falling slightly, making my sleepy brain confused as beds don't move. It smells so nice, like musk and soap. Slowly I crack open my eyes and a smooth jaw greets me. Meliodas?

I realize then what my body has done. My arm is across his chest, my head on his peck, my leg is hiked up on his hip with my nightgown twisted up. I detangle myself to a side sit by his hip, looking him over. He stayed on his part of the bed, over the covers, he'd fallen asleep on his back... and I had come out from under his covers? I flush, hot. I've touched his chest and I don't remember it. I glare at my hand, envious.

His face is relaxed, more so than I've ever seen and he appears young, younger than usual. I watch his chest rise and fall, his abs are eye-catching and I try not to take advantage of his unconsciousness but I can't seem to look away. His shoulders are rounded with muscles, his biceps look so strong and the more I stare at the dips and valleys of his muscles the more I want to touch. Just once. My hand rises on its own but I force it down.

I'd been drawn to him in my sleep. I can't buckle while awake too.

Sunlight is bleeding through the curtains and I wiggle my nightgown down over my legs, careful as I slip down across the mattress to step off the foot of the bed. I move around the bed, tiptoeing. Both of his arms are raised over his head and he has little tuffs of blonde hair under his pits. I follow the lines of his torso up to his neck and face. He's very attractive.

He's a prince, eventually going to take the throne and with a body like his, he can have anyone... He's been so kind to me. I have to guess what he truly feels for me, but after tonight, with all his staring and stolen innocent touches... I think he _likes _me. He's told me I can touch him whenever I liked, which is a good indicator that he wants more from me, but I won't without him knowing I am doing it.

Still, my thoughts swirl. Did he hold himself back so much in the beginning because our union is pre-arranged? I had been so scared to meet him but now... now I worry how this demon feels about me, and me being a goddess. "Why do you like me?" I ask, just above a whisper and that's when I flinch back, looking to the door as I hear my name and a knock across the hall.

Margaret!

I tiptoe to his door, opening it just enough to sneak out and I shut it behind myself. It clicks and I turn to see Gil and Margaret both looking at me in surprise. They are dressed, ready for the day and Gil has two bags in his hand. The hallway is lit but no one else is here.

"_Elizabeth!"_ Margaret mutters, scandalized as she looks around to make sure we aren't being witnessed and I flush, waving the unspoken accusation away as I walk across the hall and open my own door.

"It wasn't like that!" I hiss to them both, "I was scared." I explain, honestly.

"We were next door, you could have-"

"_I know. _I made my choice." I tell them, she's frowning but I shrug. Opening my door to stand in my doorway. The three of us are quiet until she sighs.

"Your sister wouldn't lie," Gil comes to my defense and I smile to him, glad he knows me well enough to make that leap. "It's good that she turns to him," Gil meets my expression and mirrors my smile. "Would you like to accompany us for breakfast? We can wait for you to dress."

I nod, spinning to go into my room, changing my mind, and turning back. "Ask Meliodas too, please," I look between the two and although Margaret frowns, she relents. As soon as she accepts it, Gilthunder grins, turning to walk across the hall. When he knocks, I shut my door. In a rush, I gather up my things to put inside my bag, pulling out my clothes. My nightgown is tugged off, my teeth brushed and my hair pulled up into a messy updo when I put my day dress on. Ready in a few moments.

My bag is in my arms when I step into the hall and realize I don't have shoes. Margaret and Gil are there as I crouch, opening my bag to rummage until I find one, shoving past my nightgown and dress to find the other. I drop them to the ground, closing my bag and as I'm slipping my first shoe on, Meliodas comes out.

His hair is a mess, his bag slung over his shoulder and his pants are loose gray slacks that cover most of his gray shoes. He has a shirt on and I frown at him from the loss of all that skin. All the ridges I know are under that thin cloth. His easy smile fades into his blank zero-face and I frown harder as I pick up my bag again. Both of my shoes are in place and I face my sister and Gil.

When Sir Meliodas reaches my side, he bends, grasping the handle of my bag and I release it. In an easy swing, he adds my bag handles to his. "Good morning," his lips tip and I greet him back with a soft, "Good morning," my arm looping through his without him offering. He adjusts, bringing his arm to a bend to accommodate me.

"How did apprehending Twigo go last night?" Gilthunder asks and I curse myself. That should have been my first question but I had such faith that Meliodas would handle it, I didn't need the reassurance. Now, I want to know too and I turn to him. I'm not surprised that he's already looking at me. After a beat, he turns from me to look at my brother-in-law.

"He's been taken care of," Sir Meliodas quips, final. Margaret sighs wearily and she steps forward, hand coming up to grasp Meliodas' hand of the arm I am holding.

"Thank you," she chokes, her tawny eyes filling, "You've put an end to one of our dark shadows stalking in the night." Gil's arm comes up to wrap around Margaret's thin shoulders and I notice they are shaking. I drop Meliodas' arm, stepping forward and I touch her face with both my hands. Her tears spill over and I kiss her forehead, sending my healing energy through her with a soft glow and I can feel her relax in my grasp. She falls into me and I whisper to her how much she is loved and how blessed I am to have her as my sister.

"It's me and Veronica that are lucky," Margaret grouses, voice thick. "You bring us all together, so special and pure." I flush under her praise and she pushes a stray piece of hair from my face, my hands falling from her as she smiles again, and the strong sister I know she is returns.

After a moment, she inquires if we want to eat and we head that way. Margaret takes my arm and I smile as I bump into her. We take our time, stopping to look at things. An entire wall is a cloth mural of a blood beast bursting from purgatory. It is made of colored threads and I edge closer to it, amazed at the detail. "It's the story of how the first vampire came to be," Sir Meliodas explains and when I smile at him, his eyes flash lighter.

I stop to look out of the stained glass window, dropping Margaret to look at the world through colored lenses. Someone pieced this together, one shard of glass at a time and I marvel at it. We pass vases, armor, artwork and even a hall of panels with etched screaming faces draw my attention. Margaret leads the way, telling us of the last time she visited Gelda and how well she knows the castle from her childhood sleepovers. Through our moving around to look, I've ended up walking beside Sir Meliodas again.

The dining room is full. I flush, peering around. I am used to my own empty table back home but here, servants take plates, men and women chat with one another and I gaze around at the wall of windows shining the sunlight on the life being lived here. Lord Izraf is at the head of the table, he rises when he sees us, walking around the table where every servant moves out of his way. "Prince Meliodas!" He calls out, loud, "We're to be family! My dear, darling daughter and your brother."

Margaret catches my eye and I can tell from her subtle tense eyes that she doesn't like Lord Izraf. I stay at Meliodas' side as Margaret and Gil are lead to their seats by a tan smocked man who bows very low. They speak for a moment and plates are brought.

"To think, it's exceedingly _rare _for a demon to have a mate and the pair of-" Lord Izraf is boastful in his tone and Meliodas snaps, "that's enough, Izraf." The lord abides, mouth flapping silently but he recovers to jovially slap at Meliodas' shoulder, the force seeming like a lot with Izraf's swing but Sir Meliodas doesn't budge an inch. "Of course, you'll want to feed your lady and get back to your own lording. Take a seat, the both of you. Thank you for coming!" He gives me a nod, looking down his nose at me but I smile, kindly.

Sir Meliodas leads us to a table, setting our bags down under his chair to pull out mine. I sit. We're across from Margaret and Gil but I don't know the man at Meliodas' side. He takes his seat, blocking my view of him and as he slides in, his knuckles brush along my leg under the table. My spine straightens as a servant asks what I would like from the food table. I stutter, asking for fruit, flustered. Sir Meliodas chuckles and I glower at him as he rattles off eggs, sausage, toast, and at the end of his long list, he asked for a strawberry tart for me.

He remembered.

The four of us eat, Gil and Meliodas hit it off. The pair of them laugh and I grin. Gilthunder doesn't have a royal background, he doesn't have a family name but it seems as if Sir Meliodas likes him most of all the guests. I look around the table, wondering after Zeldris and when I ask, Meliodas shrugs.

"Haven't seen him," Meliodas notes and I furrow my brow. "He's probably overwhelmed right now, it's very emotional to find your mate... Powers awaken, I hear it can take some time to regulate," he blankly tells me, adding, "Don't worry, they'll be fine."

Margaret and Gil say their goodbyes, telling us they are going to find the mage to return home. They stopped to speak to Lord Izraf and I watch the Lord give Margaret a pat on the shoulder with his overly large hand. He ignores Gil and I frown, looking to Meliodas. His face is blank but his nose flares when I give him a meaningful expression but as he doesn't react I turn back to my strawberry tart.

A few other guests speak to him, the nicer ones including me in the greetings and partings. The topics always turn to his brother's pairing with Gelda. The royals all aflutter of 'another lord taken' and one man exclaimed loudly, "Why would he pass up Ren in all her naked glory to choose Gelda? The Demon Lords' tastes are strange." Sir Meliodas ignores him, asking if I am ready to go and at my nod he takes my hand, pulling me from the conversation, grabbing our bags under his feet in a woosh.

He waves to Lord Izraf at the other end of the table and I do the same as the Vampire stands as if to follow us but Sir Meliodas is too fast. My feet move quickly to keep up when he pulls me along. "I want to show you something," Meliodas says while still jogging, we turn down halls, passing through doorways and servants move out of the way as if they aren't phased with our barreling. Another turn and he slows, stopping before black, plain double doors. "We had to take the long way so as not to spoil it," he explains as he drops my hand and pries open the left door.

I know its empty from the echo, no sconces are lit as it is just the rays of sunlight that bleeds into the hall from the door. I peer in, tentatively walking forward into the room a few steps to look around. It's a hall of weapons on pedestals, a straight walk through the trophies to a big square window with a seating bench just inside the windowsill. Of all the things that run through my mind, this hadn't been one of them. He does like fighting, I remind myself as I study the barbed whip in a case, a card in front saying, "Vampire Hunter: Hershing."

My footfalls echo as I walk on, looking up at the arched ceiling painted with battles, blood splattering on every vampire face above. The enemies are all screaming in wide horror. I look away at the sight of a child viciously bleeding from the mouth, over her victim with a gaping throat at her feet. The next weapon is a crossbow another nameplate, "Vampire Hunter: Jane Goall". I didn't like this room. I hold myself, arms folded over my chest and I flinch when his fingers grip my elbow.

"Come on." He speaks softly, seemingly so his voice doesn't echo, and I let him manage me. We walk by another weapon, a mace stained with old blood, but I turn from the pedestals to look at the side of Sir Meliodas' face. He's blank with smooth lines and I flush hot when his tongue pokes through from between his lips to wet them. They glisten in the sunlight and when we stop I hurriedly gaze away. "This is what I wanted to show you," he claims and I catch the wave of his hand in my peripheral vision.

I look up, out the window and my breath rushes from my lungs in a woosh.

"I've noticed you aren't impressed with gifts or things," Meliodas states, "so I thought to give you this." I take in the view. The mountains tipped with white, the village of little houses down the valley, the trees and the wild flowing river. I move forward, my knees bend to rest on the bench seat and my hands' press to the cool glass. For long moments, I look, taking in how beautiful the world is on the ground.

The water twinkles in the sun. The trees sway in a wave of motion and I can almost see the wind. A flock of birds erupt from the center, the lot of them move in a v shape across the pale blue sky. Sir Meliodas sits at my side and he watches with me, a quiet peace between us.

"We should go," I whisper and I see Sir Meliodas' reflection nod his agreement. We don't move. Leaving means this little getaway is over and I know all I'll be going back to is my empty rooms and long waiting. A melancholy opens in my chest and it squeezes like a familiar hug, embracing me after too long away. "Let's go," I rise, turning to Sir Meliodas and he's blank as he nods, gathering our bags once more.

The pair of us walk side by side as if Jelamet is with us, slow and meandering. He asks if I want to look at things and I smile, knowing he wants to prolong our time as well. Down the last hall, I spend a long time looking at a portrait of a little boy I don't know and I laugh when Meliodas points to the frame as if it is fascinating. He chuckles too, the both of us sharing a moment in understanding as we are both being silly. After that, we walk at our normal pace to the main hall where a mage is sending guests home this morning. He grabs my hand as we get in line and I step closer, my other hand wrapping around the one in mine.

It's our turn, the mage is thin, her orange hair curling and short around her ears. Her eyes are a strange color of red-brown, her skin pale and she's pretty in a mousey way. She gives us both a long once over, staring at our hands before her soft voice asks, "Where too?"

Sir Meliodas directs her, asking her to get us as far from the entrance gates of my floating city as possible so we can walk the distance. I smile to him just as I hear a finger snapping and the sound vanishes just as the world does. We're floating in black for a long second, my heart racing and I grip him harder until we're standing on the edge of my city, the buoyant island greeting me.

"Our time away has come to an end," Sir Meliodas hushes morosely, his voice gives away how he feels more than his face. "Did you have a good time?" He steps toward the city gates but I stay, our hands detaching, and he looks back, curious.

"Yes. You've shown me the first taste of the world Meliodas, thank you." He seems pleased at my answer but a wiggling thought has invaded my mind and I refuse to dismiss it. I need to know for sure, not only about how I feel, but about him and his feelings. He zeroes out so often, I have a burning flame of doubt that tells me often, '_you were one of those girls asked to perform and due to the two sides of the war our fathers decided for us, he's obligated to be at my side. He's just making our inevitable marriage easier.'_

"Just wait until you jump in." His eyes flash in delight before he blanks, turning his back to the city gates to face me, ever patient. The cloud covered ground under our feet blankets the sprinkling of green growing on the rock out here. The fog wisps lick at our ankles and obscure the edge of the world around us, like a snow globe. The clouds relax me. I feel protected in the mists.

"Would you like a standing tea date, Meliodas? Every seven days or... if that's too much we can continue every two weeks, as that seems to be what we've fallen into." I start, shy as I glance at the bottom of my dress fading into the white.

"Every three," he counters and I flush hot, the flame of doubt lashing at my insides, hurting as if a physical ache.

"Every three weeks, then," I agree with my tummy clenching painfully and my arms crossing over my chest to comfort myself. Had I pulled him away from his duties too often? Hadn't Zeldris mentioned Sir Meliodas canceling something important, and for something as trivial as tea?

"No, three days," he corrects. I snap up, shocked, meeting his eyes with my wide ones. With his soft and relaxed face the ache in my stomach eases. A few butterflies flutter, as if testing for flight but not taking off.

"You... want to see me that often?" I ask, nervous.

"_Yeah,_" Sir Meliodas' voice is throaty as if in confessional and his eyes are intense in something deep. We stare and I feel a coil writhe inside me, uncomfortable under his gaze. I grow too warm and my nerves start to waver.

"Close your eyes," I command and there is a flash of surprise as he does the opposite, eyes growing wide for a fraction of a second before he complies, his lashes resting over the very top of his cheeks. Without his intensity, I breathe a little easier. I step forward, the tips of our shoes touch and I reach, detangling my bag from his grip and he allows it, keeping his own handle. "It would be silly, to walk me to the castle, just for me to walk you back here to the gate..." I whisper, soft, his face peaceful before mine.

His lips appear smooth, touching together and I lean, my hair falling forward, touching his chest and arm. I exhale, shakily as I grow closer, and as if he knows he angles his head to me. He smells intoxicating, my heart races and I close my eyes as just looking at him, waiting, sparks so many sensations I can't process them all. The anticipation as I pause centimeters away snuffs the flame of doubt out and for a moment, I feel sure of my own feelings.

Take away our obligations, our forced companionship... at the bottom of it all, I like him. The reasons flash in my mind, for his patience, his gentle explanations, his care in my needs and for taking care of Twigo. Sir Meliodas has followed through with each of his promises, has been reliable in our tea dates when no one else has. He's saved me from my endless monotony and works to release me from my stifling, suffocating castle. _But most importantly, he's never lied to me or manipulated me like every other person in my life._

I close the gap and our lips brush, a feather's caress, like the sliding of rose petals. His lips part in surprise against mine and the movement, it's like all my adrenaline rushes through my veins, my stomach floats up into my chest and I fear I am going to rise off the ground with how light I suddenly feel. I step back, grasping my bag before me and I'm glad he hasn't opened his eyes. He isn't breathing and with his slackened jaw paired with his serene face and stance, I think he liked it.

He likes me, or wouldn't he be putting me in my place? Wouldn't he explain how wrong this is in his kind way? The knowledge that our budding feelings are mutual changes me. My spine stiffens and I grow so hot I fear I'll pass out with the sudden head rush. If he feels the same, I shouldn't have shared a bed with him so early. I tuck my hair back, closing my eyes with a pinch.

"Goodbye, Meliodas," I'm too shy to look, stepping toward the gate with quick footfalls, just under a jog as I don't want him to think I am running away. Although, that's what I do. The golden gates open at my approach, the fog obscures the guards on duty until I arrive there and I greet them, quickly and nervously before looking back.

Sir Meliodas' outline is still there, in the cloud fog, his bag still dangling in his hand and I know he hasn't moved. A wavering smile forms, I am feeling full and I couldn't be happier with how my first outing has gone. Perhaps I can still find my own corner of happiness with Meliodas? Hadn't Izraf said mates are extremely rare? He might not have to leave me and falling in love the slow way sounds delightful. I walk through my city to my home, literally and figuratively floating on a cloud, not giving any thought to the various stares that follow me.


	10. Chapter 10: An Escape

Chapter 10: An Escape

I groan, low and tired, rubbing at my eyes. I toss my blanket off, padding across my carpet in my nightgown as it tumbles back in place. The buttons down the front have come undone from my tossing. I step out of my room, reclasping them when I spot sabatons in my hall. My eyes look up and up, confused as to why a suit of armor is here when I see... someone is in the armor.

"_Ah!" _I scream, stumbling back, hands flying from my gown as I catch myself with hands behind my back as I hit the floor, my feet raising into the air from the momentum. My nightgown twists and lands around my hips. "Mael!" I scold, fixing myself to glare up at the silver-haired, anxious man with a frown on his lips.

"Lady Elizabeth," Mael greets, pointedly looking away from me with pink growing on his cheeks.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, voice high as I come to a stand and grip the buttons at my chest in a tight fist.

"I've been assigned the morning shift as your guard," his voice is tight with unease and I know exactly how he feels as I glare.

"I want someone different," I hiss, feeling that same sting of rejection all over again.

"Ellie... we were kids," Mael's stance sags with his words, a vision of the little boy I knew, the friend I had played with for a little while after my sisters left flashed over this grown man's face. He still has those sad moon eyes, his lips still auto-frown as if his base expression is one of deep concentration. As a child, it had looked strange but on this man's face, he's grown into it.

"I wouldn't have done it to you if the roles had been reversed," I note.

As a child, I'd been allowed in the city, my own playground of kids and adventure. Seeing Mael and remembering, the taunts came back to me, words echoing. '_She's a traitor, promised to the enemy!',_ '_A fancy princess can't play with us'_, and I remembered how gangs of kids would snub their nose at me but take any treat or toy I'd offered greedily. As Mael and I persisted, at his insistence as he was allowed among their ranks, the abuse grew angrier, fiercer. '_Step any closer and we'll hurt you!_' and '_It's your fault our gates are closed! My dad is out there and he can't come back!'_ I'd dared that day, a box of cookies held out and when I stepped closer... they hadn't been bluffing. I flinched at the memory, rubbing my temple and Mael notices, wincing, his hand raising up as if he can do something years too late.

After Mael and the other's actions, I'd been barred in. The city closed off to the world and me, closed in at the castle. My father had been furious, demanding I give names, "_Who would dare throw rocks at my daughter?" _ranting about, "_how much an innocent girl can take so young!"_ When I refused to speak one word against my attackers, my father had turned to Mael and a scowling stubborn Mead. Mead had helped me home and Mael had followed running after us much too late. Mael had cowered knowing his fault and Mead had glared at everything around us. That had been the day we met. Mead, a younger child than me, was more loyal than anyone, even Mael- who I had known for years. He didn't snitch, following my lead with an adamant scowl.

"I know that's true," Mael concedes, straightening and looking fierce. "I'll make it up to you. If it comes to it, I'll die defending you," his face is determined, resigned to his fate and his tone is so serious I flush at his words. My tender feelings were wiped clean after he threw the stone that stole my balance. It was Mead, such a small boy then, who protected me. He picked up that same bloody rock and threw it back with a howl. Yelling, _"You bunch of bullies! Pig-headed, ugly-faces! She can't control her life or her father's laws any more than you!"_

I'd lost Mael that day but I made my first true friend, all on my own. He'd come and play at the castle sometimes, never taking a thing... until his parents died and he had to step up for his siblings. Things changed after that, but I stand by him as he had done for me. Our friendship doesn't wane when our long times apart become weeks and weeks of separation.

I go back to my room, knowing I can't demand Mael leave his new position but I can demand answers. Without a bath, I change my clothes, ignoring the unpacked bag blocking the way to my closet. I'd made it home yesterday afternoon and there had only been Jelamet waiting for me. No guard, as I told her in exciting detail everything I could think of. Not skipping _one_ event. She gasped at the news of Twigo, smiled deviously at me sneaking to Meliodas' room and laughed when I told her how I wrapped myself around him in my sleep while he kept his hands over his head as if trying not to touch me. Even telling her about my first kiss, she'd smiled, grasping my hand, telling me, "_He's a good one, Ellie."_

What has changed from then to now? Something has occurred as I had a personal, full armored fighter outside my door! I dress, skipping on shoes and rushing past Mael. He follows and I scowl, making my way through the castle to my father's chambers. It's quiet but when I knock I hear him clear his throat, "Come in!" he gruffs. I slip in, making sure to shut the door behind myself before Mael got any ideas.

"What a pleasant surprise this morning!" My father beams. I look him over as I notice a plate of half-eaten breakfast at his side. He stands, coming around his desk to greet me. He's still in his blue and white striped pajamas, his dark hair ruffled to one side as he clearly must have mushed it against a pillow while he slept.

"Why do I have a guard?" I skip the greetings and he stops.

"When Lord Meliodas is around, you don't need one," My father says, guarded. That wasn't my question and I fold my arms, waiting. If there is one thing I know, my father could outlast me in a stalemate like this. I step forward, asking again and he sighs. "I heard about Twigo, just to be safe-"

"Sir Meliodas took care of him. He said so himself," I retort and my father flushes, scratching at his beard but I know he believes me as he sighs, long and weary.

"He personally has my gratitude," the tough man before me puffs his chest out in a long inhale. "I can't fault him, I'd have done the same if given the chance." My father's rough hand comes up to scratch at his mustache. "Did you have a good time with the vampire clan? I heard about Zeldris-"

"Yes, but stop trying to distract me. Why the guard?" Lord Bartra rises up, looking as if he is confidently leading a nation even in his pajamas. He grabs me by the shoulder, leading me to his desk and when we reach the far end, he releases me. He walks around it, ruffling through the scrolls and parchment until he finds the one he's looking for. My father clears his throat, looking at me with side-eyes before sighing.

"It would be safer if you know, to be on your guard. I've been told not to scare you, with the upcoming outings Lord Meliodas has planned but... you are capable and I feel the King underestimates you." My father put his glasses on, picking them up from the desk and situating them on his nose. He inhales a long breath when I nod, feeling strange confidence overtake me. Does my father think I am capable of taking care of myself? With how overprotective he's been I never would have thought it. "There have been a string of abductions and the situation changed. Someone was taken from their own home, stalked, and you fit the victim's profile."

That isn't what I was expecting.

"What profile do I fit?" I ask, a slew of questions coming to mind with this new information, "How many have been taken?" I move closer, trying to see the parchment. "Can I be bait to help stop them?" Instantly his grip on the parchment squishes the paper up.

"_No!_" He commands. His voice deepens, lowering to a harsh warning, "Don't even _entertain_ the idea, _Elizabeth_." My father's eyes narrow at me steadily and intensely until I nod, relenting. He accepts it, turning back to his desk while trying to unwrinkle the page with long swipes of his palm. I can make out the Demon King's seal and a list of names with a lot of written information, but I said the wrong thing as my father dismisses me. If I would have acted less interested would he have shared more?

The days pass on repeat, Jelamet has a few nice days and we do her chores together. I had different guards at different times and some good comes of it, as I no longer eat alone... but now I don't do anything alone outside of changing and bathing. A warrior in armor is always outside of every door. Some hate the job, others relax while on duty but some watch me critically. Hendrickson and Ludociel are the ones I note with the angriest eyes.

Ludociel actually gives Jelamet a hard time about being unable to do her duties. He'd underestimated her though, as she snapped right up, telling him to keep his long nose in his own business. "You don't let a man tell you who you are, dear girl," she speaks loudly in front of him, mumbling about working all her life and that her old bones are still capable.

Sir Meliodas and I are to have tea today and I ask to take it in the gardens as the sun is pleasantly warm. Not a cloud in sight, the rays beat on my back. I even wear a summer dress, anticipating the weather to stay the same. Jennah helps me set a table up with chairs on the little hill of our garden and I grow nervous as the time ticks closer. I'm shaking out the tablecloth to cover the small round table when Mael, my guard for the day speaks, "Your guest is here, Lady Elizabeth."

I look and he's being lead by Zaneri, the pair of them speaking but his eyes are already on me. The last I saw him, I'd kissed him and _kind of _ran away. I flush, unable to keep his gaze. "You can go, Mael." I hush to him, when he doesn't move I look over blankly to see what he is doing. After a moment, he nods, strolling away. I watch him go and I see Sir Meliodas give him a passing glance when he walks by. Jennah joins Zaneri and the two stroll away, leaving just the two of us.

With my nerves strung too tight, I have a hard time looking at him, so I make myself busy like I had when we first met. Pouring tea, arranging things and taking my seat with trembling fingers. He sits, holding his cup in both his hands and when I look, he's zero-faced and seemingly relaxed as he sips his first taste.

He's in a loose white shirt with looping ties in the front. It hangs off his shoulders and I notice his one shoulder is sitting slightly lower than his other. If I touch him I'll know for sure but I think he's been fighting again. Does he need healing?

"You have a guard now?" Sir Meliodas asks when his cup is lowered, his Adam's apple bobs deliciously as he swallows and I frown. I am not supposed to know... but I can tell Meliodas, he won't be upset with me or do anything with my father, right?

"Apparently people like me are being abducted." I explain, "Do you know about that? What about me is similar to the victims and do you know what's being done?" My hands clasp together under the table and I bite my lip, embarrassed so much comes rushing out. Sir Meliodas looks at me for a long while, his gaze roaming my hairline, down the slope of my nose and stops at my lips. His hand comes up, his finger brush along his bottom lip and I flush, wondering if he's thinking about it too.

"I do," he confirms, "My brother and I are working towards finding them, more so now than ever before." I frown, confused. "We are well known. So far, the perpetrators have only taken couples of mixed races that are easier to overpower." So it's a hate crime group? One who doesn't like people to go outside their own race? "I didn't think you'd be assigned a guard. You only leave with me."

His words are true, but they sting and I can't meet his eyes as mine water. The topic changes, our tea is finished and today he doesn't prolong our time. "I have to go." He utters, "Will you walk me to the fence?" I agree and when we arrive he waits looking at me and I flush, unsure what he expects but I know he does expect something. "I'll see you in three days." He speaks blankly, turning and going when he's done waiting, hands in his pockets as he meanders away.

We take tea in my rooms the next time, and I wonder if perhaps he hadn't liked my kiss. He'd touched me so often at the ball and now, he is blank and respectful again. He's closed-lipped about the criminals but it's on my mind with my guards constantly around. I read through the demon history book, finishing the one with the amazing illustrations and I don't like how they skimp over the soul-eating in it. That had been a major treaty point.

The next novel I pick from my stack next to my bed is children stories, old wives tales for demon children and I smile at the cartoonish images at the start of every little story, each with a lesson.

Being stuck here, when things are happening in the world, it tastes bitter in my mouth because I know more of what I am missing now. I'd had the sweetest taste of the world and now that it is gone I wished I hadn't experienced it, as my view changes. Before I'd felt stuck, caged but I had been resigned to my fate. Now, I am restless, flapping around in my prison wanting to slip from my bars for another taste. An addict wanting a fix.

It is two weeks later, a constant repetition in my days of tea, Jelamet's chores, and being followed by guards, that something happens. Meliodas had left the day before, looking back at me through the gate of the castle for minutes on top of minutes before he'd turned and went. I'm in my study, the book of demon's children stories open in front of me as I read, sitting crossways over my cushy chair. My legs dangle over the arm, bouncing and poking out from my dress with my nose between the pages. It is quiet until I hear Hendrickson give a surprised, "You can't come whenever you please!"

I look to the door, concerned as my book lowers to my lap, my fingers playing on the edge of the hardcover. It opens and in strolls Meliodas, casual pants with a patch on the knee and a loose pullover shirt. He doesn't look like a Lord at all. "Yo, Elizabeth," he smirks, grinning more as he looks around. With a dismissive wave to the parcels, he teases, "You've hardly made a dent in your gifts." I move, my bare feet touching the floor.

"Lord Meliodas?" I ask, surprised but pleased.

"I've escaped and I thought, 'Why not break Elizabeth out too?' So here I am." He explains, grinning as I stand, excited. "Wanna come?" He questions and I toss my book to the chair.

"Yes!" I exclaim, and when I rush to him, he offers his hand. I take it, eager, and he guides me to my room demanding I wear my least fancy outfit and comfortable shoes when I go in to dress. Hendrickson is angry, I hear him in the hall questioning Meliodas. '_Have you spoken to Lord Bartra?' 'Where are you taking Lady Elizabeth?' 'This is highly inappropriate without an escort, I'll attend-'_ Meliodas cut him off with a firm no, that, 'we'll be fine' and I rush to take my dress off.

I pick a button up shirt and stretch pants. My flats are slip-on and I flush hotly as I grab a ribbon to tie my hair back. I skid into the hall, fussing with my long strands as I move to Meliodas. "We're taking a sky manta." He mentions, "I hope you can fly it because I've never done it before." My laugh echoes in the hall as I tell Hendrickson goodbye. He stares after us, alarmed. Hendrickson knows when I am with Meliodas I don't need a guard so there isn't much he can do about this.

A sky manta is in the front of the castle, the flat black beast resting over the greenery, pushing down bushes from its weight but as we approach it flaps its wings, rising up. I couldn't believe I will actually be leaving, but seeing our ride before us, the pleasantness of reality settles in. Meliodas takes my waist and I flinch at the unexpected touch, he doesn't acknowledge it, grabbed my hand and he kicks off the ground, taking me with him as we land on the beast's back.

I grow warm in his hold and when my stance is steady, he releases me. The harness is already attached and I ease down on all fours to crawl up the unsteady-feeling beast's back to take the reins. Its flesh is smooth and the cartilage makes the animal feel solid. "Where to?" I ask, turning to him and see Meliodas sitting, cross-legged, face blank behind me. I feel my bones vibrate in anticipation. It doesn't matter the destination, if all we do is ride this Sky Manta around, I'll be happy.

"Vaizel," he points in a direction. I haven't ridden a manta in years but the basics are the same as I ease the reins and the beast abides. We rise into the air and with the beast's flapping, we bob softly. As we near the sentry guards flying above our city, I tense but they _let us pass. _Shock jolts through me. It shouldn't, I'm allowed to go anywhere with Meliodas. The views are breathtaking and after a while, with a steady pace, I release the harness and motion for Meliodas to come up here. He stands, walking toward me and I laugh when he stumbles into me, catching himself with a hand on my hip as I reach for his arm in case he slips. I teach him how to direct the Sky Manta and hand over the reins.

"What's in Vaizel?" I make conversation, looking out at the world from up so high. Patches of farms and lines of worn paths decorate the vast green below us. The sky is clear and the sun felt nice gracing us with its heat.

"A festival," he answers, pointing out a town and I crawl, not confident enough on my feet to test walking. I look over the other edge of the beast's head to see tiny ant people moving around. "We should be there in a few moments," Meliodas notes and I smile at him. His hair flaps in the wind and I'm glad I tied mine back or it would be a bush of tangles. "We're undercover today, just regular people, so don't address me as sir, or lord or Meliodas. My regular alias is Captain but we'll have to give you one."

"No one's seen me in years. I doubt anyone will recognize me as Lady Elizabeth." I answer but he shrugs as if that didn't matter.

"It's part of the fun to be someone else, to be who you want to be." I frown at the tone in his words, grabbing the straps to steady myself as I come to a seat beside Meliodas. He hands the reins back as if he is uncomfortable being in control of the beast.

"Who do you want to be, Meliodas?" I inquire and he looks at me when I glance at him. His eyes are endless depths of green.

"My alter ego, Captain, and your lover," he answers and I flush looking away, eyes wide knowing it's for pretend but finding the words affecting me as the butterflies thrash about. It will eventually be true, this man is meant to be my lover, preordained. I mull over the thought and find it, not unappealing as a little thrill opens inside me. My hand comes to my lips and the pads of my fingertips are nothing like how I remember his lips to be. "Would you like to go by Ellie or Liz or Beth or... something else entirely?" He hasn't answered me, not truly, but I let it go, excited he brought me.

"Liz is nice," I tell him and he nods, testing it on his tongue. I spot the town before him, as he's staring again. The city is below a cliff side and I can see at the top of the cliff a wide circle stage with people setting things up. The town is busy, people below milling about, spreading into the houses on the slope. Meliodas points in the distance, into the trees at the top of the cliff and I angle that way.

When the Sky Manta lands, I unhook the whistle, looping it over my head and untucking my hair from the chain around my neck. "She'll come back when she's called, can hear her whistle from miles and miles away," I explain and he nods. Meliodas jumps down first, helping me off the beast with an offered hand. I thank him and the Sky Manta before he guides me toward the circle I saw from above.

Vaizel is much bigger on the ground. Even with us above everyone on the cliffs, the size is intimidating. I can see little stalls, and markets with people milling around but as we near the round white rock sticking out from up here I can tell what it is. An arena. A table is before it with a bald, muscled man sitting at it. I gaze to Meliodas at my side but he's already watching me.

"Is this one of those underground fighting rings?" I ask, flushing, "It's very much above ground." When Mead had explained it briefly this wasn't what I imagined. He laughs, I watch as his head is thrown back and chin arches high. The contours of his neck are pleasing and I'm warm as my thoughts urge me to _tuck my face there_... to do something? I shake my head. When I look again, his eyes are soft, face blank.

"No, this is an above-board competition," he explains, walking on toward the table. His steps bounce on the grass, "I wouldn't be comfortable bringing you to the _alternative _fights I partake in. Those places get pretty rowdy." Meliodas grins, he scratches at the side of his head and the bald man pushes a page to us as we approach.

The arena is a wide area in the center, a tent is to the side and I see a couple there. A very tall man with a very short fairy girl but from their embrace, I know they are together. Another demon is here, purple, hulk-like and looking like a monster. He's arranging something inside of his side satchel and I flush, thinking, '_That's what I had been expecting when I'd first met Meliodas'._

"Good to see you here Cap," the bald man gruffs, he returns the greeting and I smile to the round pin-head man. His shoulders are overly large making his skull look small but it helps draw the eye away from the boil on his forehead. "You competin'?" The man asks me and Meliodas chuckles, stepping toward me to pull me by the waist into his side.

"She's my lady," Meliodas, or 'Captain' says, and the bald man's hazel eyes grow wide. The man looks me over, then to Meliodas and frowns as if he doesn't see how we work. Meliodas chuckles even harder before guiding me to the tent. Is this part of our playing pretend? "This is where fighters and their guests wait between matches. Our own viewing area and it keeps the spectators back."

The two of us head that way but we stop before the roped-off section. The tall man inside, detangling from his blonde fairy partner, calls out excitedly, "_Captain!" _Meliodas raises his hand in a wave but keeps his other around my waist. The man and I look each other over. His head touches the top of the tent so he hunches under to step over the rope. He's in red leather, his stomach showing ripped muscles and his red eyes roam the pair of us. "To be honest, Cap. I thought you were into men," the man chimes with a wry grin. Meliodas laughs more enlivened than I've heard in a long while as he detangles himself from me.

"Ban, this is my lady, Liz. Liz, this is my friend Ban and behind him is Elaine," Sir Meliodas introduces us. I wave to them both. Meliodas, _the captain,_ is more at ease here than he'd been at the ball. The Fairy girl is wingless, it means she hasn't reached her full maturity. Goddess wings could be evoked and dismissed but once a fairy grew wings they couldn't be removed unless taken. They can fly with their magic any time though. Her yellow hair floats around her shoulders, her tawny eyes sparkle as she slaps at Ban's shoulder.

"Ban, you can't just say stuff like that," Elaine scolds, holding her hand out to me and I take it. She's chilled, our fingers brushing before we pull away. "It's nice to meet you Liz and to see you again, Captain," she soothes, smiling. I look at the chairs behind them, noticing the bowls of water, wash rags, and bandages. "First time?" Elaine asks.

"Yeah, I'm a bit nervous. I've never seen... uh, Captain fight before," Ban snorts, taking Meliodas by the head and bringing his fist down to ruffle his hair. Sir Meliodas grins and he allows the assault.

"Too bad you're about to see him lose." Ban quips, "Our tally is, what 361 out of 720 matches, in my favor?" The tall man peers down at the chaos of hair under his arm and Meliodas maneuvers out, cocky.

"You must be dreaming, Ban. It's 361 in my favor." Meliodas fake slaps at Ban and the pair start an elaborate hand-slapping dance. Up high, down low and then jumping or crouching to hit the hands of the other. The two are laughing, and I watch it for a moment until Elaine sighs, drawing my attention.

"They've been like this since I've known them," her tone is exasperated but her eyes shine with joy. I hear Ban dig in while the slaps speed up to a blur, "You better make it to the final round to settle the score!" Meliodas is grinning as he replies, "Right back at you!" If I'd been doing what they were, I'd have been concentrated and strained but Meliodas is serene. Brows up, eyes free of tension, and his lips expressive.

"I've never seen him look so... open," I hush to myself but with Elaine right here, looking at me, she hears. She is smiling when I give her a startled glance, she tells me how close Ban and the Captain are. A human and a demon. I wonder briefly if this is the man my sister had thought was with Meliodas. The purple Demon exits from under the tent behind the two, his face, located on his torso, sneering as he turns to go toward the town below. I watch where he goes, noticing the stairs that lead down.

Sir Meliodas will fight that beast? I frown, worrying as I look to the arena, then to the supplied bandages under the tent. I don't want Meliodas to get hurt and the thought nags at my insides like a lightning bug trapped in a jar that sparks every few moments to get my attention. Elaine touches my shoulder.

"He'll be fine," her voice is soft and understanding. When I turn, her expression shines in the same. "Captain's been doing this for years." I attempt a smile, glad she is here.

"Have you been to the festival yet?" I ask and she nods, opening her bag hanging at her side to pull out a wooden beaded necklace. With a smile it dangles long in her fingers, the different colors and shapes making the piece look like a child put it together.

"Every time Ban and I go someplace new, we buy a bead and add it. Soon, we'll run out of chain." She giggles, pointing to the black one on the end. "This is Vaizel's." A happy bubble grows in my chest as I note she'd been to so many places with her lover. That must be nice and I am glad for her. "Are you and Captain going to explore the town?"

I want to, but I don't know the answer. She waits for my reply and I smile, hopeful as I look to Meliodas. The hand-slapping stops when Meliodas dips and swipes Ban's legs out from under him. The tall man flings backward, laughing on his behind.

"Of course we are!" Meliodas assures, grinning over at me. With him distracted, Ban takes advantage and with a spin, kicks his leg out for Meliodas. I reach out, trying to warn him but Meliodas just hops up, jumping Ban's leg like a rope. They both grin and he comes over to me, steps long and happy.

Elaine whispers, "I'll see you later." Ban gives a wave over his shoulder before gathering up the fairy in his arms. He smells her hair before saying, "Don't be late, Captain." Then he grins, "And even though we just met, I know you can do better than this ass-hat, Liz." My lips part as an uncomfortable, "Oh," escaped my lungs, but Meliodas looks delighted as he takes my hand, guiding me to the steps the demon had taken down to the bustling village below.

There isn't a railing, just rough cut grooves in the side of the jutting cliff side that wraps around the elevated stage. I grip Meliodas' hand as he leads us down. "We'll have to stop at 'Ol' Wilsons' he has this barley ale that you have to try." He points, and I follow, noting the activities below. "There must be music, they started a dance circle." I see the ladies below, ribbons in their hands as they twirl in the center of a crowd. "Are you hungry?" he asks.

"No," I whisper, answering absently while following as I take in the buildings, set up stalls and people selling wares. There is too much going on for me to be worried about my stomach. When we reach the ground I square up to Meliodas' side, keeping hold of his hand. We start our journey. A man tries to sell us a vase, his pottery work at his back on a table. Another woman with an overly large hat holds up a novel, declaring it, "the most amazing adventure there ever was," but I'd read it ages ago and I rank it at least fourth.

"Oh!" I exclaim, pointing to the puppet show, shadows playing on the building behind them with their antics. We don't stay as my attention is fleeting and I pull Meliodas along, excited as I spot 'Old Wilsons' the building he had mentioned. He takes the lead to guide me there, smirking back at me as he holds open the door.

The tavern is dark and dingy. The bar has a few bodies on stools, but each table is full. There are four of them, groups sharing food and frothing drinks. People know him here, arms waving and bellows follow him of, "Long time no see," and, "I knew you'd be back." Or, actually, they know '_Captain'_. We walk through the tables, to the bar.

He joyously announces once there that, "This beautiful lady finally accepted my advances," waving over me when he let go of my hand. The man on a stool opposite Meliodas doesn't believe him at first, when Meliodas orders our drinks he asks me off to the side, "Are you actually dating the Captain? I've never seen him with a woman before." He had red hair, a dirty face, and crooked teeth. His clothes are well kept though. I don't know the answer, just tell him, "I like him." When Meliodas returns, the man's face drops to face his mug.

Meliodas hands me a cup and I grip it with both hands as if it is tea. The stine is too large for that but I attempt it. He laughs, tapping his wooden mug to mine before tipping it back, drinking his with large gulps. I don't do that, I look at the white foam over the amber liquid, giving it a sniff. It smells like bread a bit. With a tentative taste, I sip it. My nose fizzles and I crinkle it up until the flavor hits my tongue and I ease.

Oh... that's not bad. I take another taste, relaxing and when I look over I laugh, pointing to Meliodas' mouth. He has a beer mustache, the foam on his upper lip. Meliodas swipes at it, grinning at his hand, eyes dancing when he meets mine. "Well?" He asks, nudging his head to my mug.

"It's good!" I announce and I jump, spooked as the lot of the patrons howl at my words, raising their stines for a toast. I flush, embarrassed at the fanfare. The bartender, an old woman with stringing white hair calls out, "Thanky miss!" I hadn't known the bar was waiting for my approval.

We stay for some time, 'Captain' taking me around telling each person, "This is Liz, my lady," and I grow warm with each proud smile he flashes at me. Meliodas is showing me off. I'd worn my least fancy clothes, my hair is pulled out of the way and after coming here by sky manta I'm sure the fly-aways are crazy... yet, among these people, he acts more enlivened than I've ever seen, more interested in _me_.

The wanted board draws my eye, as under the criminal's section is Master Twigo's face. I step toward it, looking over the profiles of the other wanted posters. Scared men and smirking women span the board. Beside it are missing people and I think it is strange that four of the missing posters have two faces on each one. I read the caption on the first one, 'Ester, of the human race and Unfertho, of the demon race- missing, last seen together leaving Ester's home...' it lists the town and the reward. Couples are missing.

An elbow brushes my back and I turn to see Meliodas behind me, glowering at a laughing mustached man who raises his mug up high toward us. The man beside the mustache man pulls him in and starts whispering, as soon as the man is released he looks alarmed over at Meliodas. "Sorry, man. Won't happen again." He shifts in his seat, shoulders hunched.

"The poster," I point, touching Meliodas' arm and he turns to see Twigo's face. I believed him when he said he'd taken care of him. Had this place not updated their boards? He shrugs, eyes glinting and... for the first time since we left my floating island, his face zeroes out. I wonder if he doesn't want to discuss it for my sake. I honestly don't remember much from that time. I let it go and we move together to another table, away from the mustached man.

After I finish my drink, in that span Meliodas has three, we head out to join those in the sun. He takes me to watch the dancers. On our way across the busy town, Meliodas 'saves me' from a runaway cart with a dramatic flourish that has me giggling when he scoops me up and places me back down. It hadn't come close but he bows low as if receiving so much applause from the act.

We are eating apple tarts, holding hands as we walk when a boy comes jogging through the streets announcing, "The Fights to begin in half-hour, fighters report!" His little vest is bright with the Vaizel Fighting fists emblazoned on its back. I watch his dark head bounce as he goes down another block to repeat his yelling.

My tummy grows hard, and I offer Meliodas the rest of my treat. He accepts it, walking us to the stage as he bites where my mouth had been. He licks his lips, swiping up along the smooth skin and his poking pink tongue warms a pool in my core. I shiver and Meliodas notices, looking over at me with curiosity. "I've only seen others train before," I tell him, looking up at the stage, the white rock jutting out in its curve. I am hoping with the topic shift he won't pick up the scent of my arousal.

"It's basically the same, only more bloody," he notes, taking the lead and switching which of his hands holds mine. "Of course, it's just a game, a competition," he shrugs. On the way up, I watch the bounce of Meliodas' light hair and the curve of his neck to his shoulders. He'll be okay. I don't know how well he fights, I can only extrapolate out but if he lost half the time against a human...

With my ability, I'll just intervene if he is going to be killed.

Up top, a crowd is already gathered. A few called out to us, "I have gold on you, Cap'n", and I look to see who had spoken but the group is moving. It sounded like a man. We head toward the tent, a group of men are animatedly talking to one another beside it and when we walk past a low whistle sounds. Meliodas frowns, releasing my hand. Gently, he reaches to touch my waist, the contact sends my heart into a race and from the pressure, he guides me into the tent. Once behind the ropes, his hand drops away.

The monstrous purple demon is there. A bulky dark man at his side, his clothes darker than his skin and a blue sash over one of his eyes and tied at the back of his head, curved to accommodate his nose. Ban and Elaine are sitting together on the same chair, her legs dainty across his lap with his arm lazily around her waist.

The chairs are folding wooden rickety things and the entire second row behind the first is free but I walk along the front to take the far seat, next to the bandage table. After a breath, Meliodas takes the one beside me, between the Ban and Elaine sandwich and me. That same boil man comes by, telling us gruffly, "Waiting for two more," while walking on.

"Meliodas..." I whisper and he looks over while I flush, "Captain." I correct and he smiles, easy and uncaring, waiting for me to continue. "Will you be careful?" I ask, my hand moving from my lap, brushed his leg before I retreat to clasp them to my chest.

"Are you worried?" He questions and I nod. "So, you'll patch me up, after?" He sounds hopeful and I frown, agreeing again. A woman, lean and lengthy hops the ropes, climbing up on the seat of a chair to step over it and sit in the back. Her hair is cut short, her outfit a jumper of red and black and she's cute. I draw my attention away as Meliodas says, "Liz," I frowned at his seriousness, his head leans toward mine as he starts whispering intently, "You can't heal me until we leave. Endurance is part of the fun but... I don't want you drawing any attention to what you are."

Why? I meet his gaze, his eyes an endless field of green. I bite my lip, looking at his and I flush too hot to keep our closeness up. With an adjustment to my shoulders, I face forward and Meliodas chuckles, his hand stretching across the back of my chair. From his position, his finger runs up the side of my arm farthest from him.

Meliodas' shoulders are pressed into mine before he resists and I look to see Ban had his arm pushing him. "We're drawing," he stands, picking up Elaine and depositing her back in the chair as Meliodas excuses himself, taking my hand to squeeze before going with the other fighters. A round bald man is already up there talking to the boil man and he does have a jar of something in his hand.

It is Elaine and I in the tent and I move down to take Meliodas' seat to be beside the small woman. She points to the growing spectators around the arena and I follow the trail of her hand to see them all. A line of people are coming up from the stairs, backed up and blocking other's paths. "They get rowdy so watch for thrown mugs or anything else they have on them. I got nailed in the head once, Ban forfeited his match, jumping out of the arena to knock the thrower out." She giggles, "We're not allowed back there as it started a fight in the spectators."

I'm not sure if I should laugh or be appalled but I settle for a grin, snorting through my nose as she asks, "How did you meet the Cap'n?"

We haven't prepared a backstory, so I skim the truth, "We were set up, mutual people we knew." I answer, shrugging and looking away as I hear Meliodas and Ban give a howl. They are both holding out their sticks to one another.

"They must be facing one another in the first round." Elaine explains and she smiles. "One of us will get to go home early." When I don't smile at her words, her little elbow moves to tap mine and I try to make my face look reassuring. I don't want to go home, I don't want him hurt and I am not sure I am going to like this.

The boil man draws the attention of the crowd, announcing the pairings, the rules and intimidating the lot of them. I barely listen, my gaze is drawn to Sir Meliodas, grinning and already half fighting with Ban. After each got in a side punch, the two separate, stepping up to the platform. The competitors wave and play up to the crowd, all of them except Meliodas. His eyes find mine and I smile, truly and deeply. His expression mirrors mine and then goes beyond it, exuberant in its glee.

I may not like this, but Sir Meliodas does. That's what matters. Seeing him like this, I think I finally met the real him and my heart aches because he hadn't been himself up to now. As Sir Meliodas he is closed off and angrier, judging by the demon aura he gave off at the Vampire ball. Here, he's 'Captain', a new person, but open and happier. This is the true Meliodas and he's destined to give this up, give himself up, to be king.


	11. Chapter 11: Incentives

Chapter 11: Incentives

I wince, coming to a stand as the two men in the fighting ring move so fast I can hardly keep up. Meliodas is fully focused on this fight, blocking and punching and Ban has done the same. After seeing them together I expected a playful fight, a friendly bout but this is... _brutal_. Dark blood splatters when Meliodas' skull cracks from the punch and tears well, my mouth opening as if to scream but only the softest exhale escapes me.

A little hand touches my shoulder and Elaine is at my side, a soft smile on her face. "I promise they will be fine. They each know what the other can handle." When I nod to her, meeting her reassuring expression until a loud crack echoes around us. Her hand falls away and we both turn, moving to the edge of the tent to try to see through the dust that has kicked up. The fighting platform is cracked down the center, the two halves sagging into one another.

"Sir Meliodas!" I yell, flushing and panicking. I remembered too late not to call him that and I cover my mouth with my hands to stop any other noise from escaping. The other spectators are yelling themselves and I hope no one heard. Elaine gives me a double take but when the smoke clears and a bloody limping Meliodas is alone in the ring, she forgets all about me. Elaine bends, her hair fluttering prettily as she moves out from under the tent to look around. Not at the mass of people but toward the wilderness where a straight line of rubbled and torn-up trees lead.

She flies that way and I marvel at the strength it would take to hit someone so hard that it tears up trees from their roots. As soon as Meliodas is announced the round one winner he hobbles nearer and I rush to him. We met between the ring and the tent and I loop his arm over my shoulder to help him to our seats. He dips closer to me as I look him over and for a moment I think he sniffs me but when I turn to him he is facing the crowd.

I situate him to rest while I gather a water bowl and a handful of rags and bandages. In a few blinks, I am guiding his face by his chin to clean up his wounds. He never winces or reacts to my touch but I do. I hiss in breaths and hold back tears while erasing what I can of his hurts. His eyes follow my face and I catch his green fathomless orbs between my worried fluttering about his person.

"Did you like it?" Meliodas questions, his voice sounds a tad nervous, as if my answer matters.

"Do you have to get hurt?" I whisper, tugging at his shirt collar and he smirks as I wipe over his shoulder cut, touching his bare flesh there.

"Yeah," he breathes, his eyes on my hand making contact with his skin.

"Then... no." I admit honestly, a little sorry I can't give him the answer he wants. Meliodas simply laughs, his head falling back in joy and a little dark power sparks inside of his shoulder wound. It seals before my eyes and I flush, taking a seat at his side as I feel over the wound. I've never seen a demon seal their wounds before. Between me cleaning the blood from him and him closing the open flesh, he looks almost back to normal. I can tell he still hurt from how he sits but I feel better without the visual reminder of it.

"You worried about me," he hushes, eyes dancing and he leans in. I tense, frozen and he stops in his approach. He bores into me and internally something is squirming in my belly until he smiles, "thank you for caring for me and cleaning me up so sweetly." Another fight ends and neither of us watches. We stare, unable to break our gaze until the hair on the back of my neck stands tall and I crumble under the weight of my own feelings. I turn from him, wide-eyed as a hulking beast and a woman face off.

When I flinch at the first heavy hit, his hand finds my knee in comfort and I look to it with a soft smile.

He whispers close to my ear, breath on my neck to tell me he is going to get us some water to drink and I watch him go. When he returns a moment or so later it is his turn to fight again. He pauses before leaving me, expecting something but I simply wring my hands and whisper, "Please be careful," as I don't know the protocol for these things.

It seems Ban and Elaine left, as we watched for them but they had been gone so long I doubted they were coming back. This new fight is far less intense, but he's slower. He faces off against a man with fire magic, the two intent and aggressive. Meliodas takes hit after hit and returns them just as fiercely. It is obvious to me that Meliodas isn't fighting at full strength and I am not sure why.

Is he that hurt or does he not want to hurt the other older man? The ring leader calls the fighter, 'the Flame Barzard' and even seemingly drunk and old he is holding his own. Meliodas stands his ground when his opponent unleashes a ball of rolling flames and I jump up as if I can stop it. My hand reaches and a strange, "eeek," escapes me. Meliodas turns and looks to me for a second as if he heard me through the roar of the crowd. In a blink, he has the old man down and Meliodas is declared the victor.

He stumbles far less on his way to me but I have the water and bandages ready by his seat this time. I help him again and I am far gentler dabbing at his burns. His hair is blown back, his face darker in soot and scorch marks.

"Why didn't you dodge the fireball?" I ask, biting my lip as I wipe the rag down his neck and he tilts to give me better access.

"You wouldn't have a reason to touch me if I had." His honesty is nice but my lip pops free from my teeth in alarm. I pull the rag from his skin and scowl. "Give me a better incentive than your gentleness and I'll see what I can do," he notes with a little tug of his lips and his expression reminds me of the chess game neither of us had won. Instantly my mind twirls with answers but I stare, not giving him a single one.

"An incentive," I mutter, frowning as I clean the soot from his face since he hasn't turned away. He nods against the rag and I scrutinize him. There are hints of mischief in his eyes and with his almost smirking lips I grow warm in the lower tummy. "What do you want?"

"Another kiss," he answers immediately as if he has held his answer on his tongue waiting for the chance to tell me. My face burns but my core pulses and the duality gives me pause. I like Meliodas, I want to kiss him again but it seems so hard to take that step, especially these last few days. Our first kiss had been a special case as he had done so much for me. After a few breaths, my other hand touches over his bare cheek as if in comfort, and he turns into the touch without breaking eye contact.

"Then, don't get hurt," I relent, agreeing but remembering his shoulder wound. He hasn't moved it right in the last fight and I know he is wounded there. My fingers twitch on his cheek before falling to the said body part, the urge to heal is strong but he tenses with a miniscule shaking of his head telling me, 'no' without saying a word.

"That's not very hard," Meliodas smirks. "For the prize of your silken kisses, you should make me earn them." My head tilts as my hands fall away and he frowns just a bit before he bounces back to this new playful side of him. "To be worthy, I won't take a single hit and I won't throw a single punch."

"And you'll win?" I ask. I can tell with his devious lilt that his plan had been to simply step out of bounds and forfeit for his prize. It amuses me that I can read him and I grin as I can see his mind whirring behind his eyes. The crowd cheers and a winner is called. I turn and take in the massive purple demon that Meliodas will be facing. My heart drops as he rises and my mind blanks as he dips to my ear, his nose touching the sensitive flesh and I shiver.

"It's a deal." He whispers, "You can touch me, kiss me, any time you want, Elizabeth." He is casual as he pulls away, his hands in his pockets as he reaches the fighting ring and fear grips me. What if he gets hurt because he doesn't fight back? I stand preemptively, wringing my hands together and already fretting over what is to come.

Meliodas had a little rest before this fight while the hulking beast was going from his last fight to this one without a break. I hope it gives Meliodas a leg up because he looks small next to the other demon. The crowd is shouting their favorites and calling out wagers but Meliodas' eyes finds mine and he beams as if he's already won.

They shake, hand to hook-appendage, the announcer calls out the start and moves out of the way.

The purple monster attacks. He lashes and crashes into the tilted stone platform while Meliodas dodges. The crack Meliodas and Ban left starts to chip farther away as the two dance around one another. The Hulk's massive form follows Meliodas' light hopping steps across the ground and it shakes the stage. Meliodas isn't fighting, he is wearing the big demon out but the spectators aren't happy with that plan.

Some call out for blood, others heckle and some switch from cheering on Meliodas to now backing the big Hulk. "Fight for real!" someone shouts and another, "He's all out of power!" My shoulders shake as I watch, my fingers hurt from the pressure of my own anxieties. I hope his alternate persona, Captain, won't get a bad reputation over our 'incentive game'.

Meliodas laughs, his head tilting back and I watch as the Hulk beast grows more enraged, purple magic leaking from the other demon. The way the magic moves reminds me of something and I can't put my finger on it. My hands drop and I gasp slightly as I remember the shroud of darkness around 'The Star of the Night' in my nightmares. It's then that Meliodas hops up and roundhouse kicks the beast in the chest. His magic dies around him and I shake my head to expel the visions.

'No, it must be because of the cloud-like similarities.' But my chest ceases like I just had the nightmare and I can't shake the feeling quickly enough. Meliodas looks over to me, cocky and sure of himself as he kicks the demon a second time. I try to return the smile, my throat closing and eyes widening but he goes blank before seemingly focusing on his fight. I try to do the same.

He headbutts the beast but the Hulk doesn't go down. He responds quickly and the demon wooshes a punch at Meliodas, who barely dodges in time. His hair flaps from the force but he succeeds. That's when Meliodas' attacking takes a turn. I know he aims to end it as he jumps, flips and knees the Hulk in the side of the face. Blood, teeth, and saliva fly across the arena. With a hopping, wound-up to kick, Meliodas removes his opponent from the cliffside altogether. The purple demon grows smaller and smaller while sailing through the air until he crests, falling to the town below. I inhale as a muted impact is heard followed by a high pitched scream.

'Captain' is announced the winner but when he is offered the prize gold he refuses. "I fought for my own reward. Use it to fix up the ring, or give it away." Meliodas flits by the crowd, throwing a few waves and slapping a few hands before he dips into the tent. It is just me inside of it now and he looks me over with his blank face before asking if I am ready to go.

I don't have a reason to stay but the thought of home isn't appealing. Still, I agree, thinking I must have done something wrong for him to shift this quickly. The only thing I can think of is not smiling back quickly enough when he was winning. He doesn't need any tending to as he visibly doesn't show his wounds and as I trail after him, leaving the shouting crowd behind, I understand what he meant a bit better. I want to touch him and without a reason to, it's hard for me to initiate even with his obvious permission for me to take that liberty. Now, I feel differently about me demanding him not to get hurt, but it had been nice. Maybe that upset him? I have taken a bit of our easiness away when we come across so little of it between us and now a kiss looms.

Unless he changed his mind about the kiss?

I blow the Sky Manta whistle when we reach the open clearing outside the wilds and I hear the beast flapping in the distance. Meliodas, at my side, watches it approach and I watch him, trying to find the answer in the curve of his cheek and slope of his lips. He wets them and I grow too warm to look. I turn to the beast as it lands and when he offers to help me up, I take his hand. He smiles at my acceptance and I hope the gesture bridges the gap between us that formed moments ago.

I know the general direction of home as that is the way we came and I take the reins again as we head in the right direction. I sit with my legs bent under me and he sits a little ways behind me but within arms reach. Our day out seems to be ending badly and when I steady the sky manta I turn to him. He looks pleased enough. I move to face him fully.

For a long moment we stare, him reserved and blank and me worrying away. His expression reminds me of how he waits at the gates at the end of our visits. Slowly, it dawns on me that he had been waiting for a kiss goodbye each time and now I owe him one. Has he been waiting for me to make the first move this entire time?

"Sir Meliodas," I whisper, afraid my voice is so low it will get lost in the rushing wind but he inclines his head as if he hears. "I've never, before when we..." I flush, too warm, and I squirm in my own skin, uncomfortable. "After we visited the vampires when I-" My throat makes a strange choking noise and I grow more embarrassed and my hands fling up to cover my face. "Nevermind," I mutter. I turn away but Meliodas reaches out and gently take my forearm to still me.

"Tell me. I want to know about you," he confesses and the soft bloom in my chest cracks its petals open a little farther. I resettle before him, inhale a breath and stare into his soothing green orbs.

"You were my first kiss," I confess. His eyes crinkle with a smile and his canines flash. I mean, it feels almost obvious that I know nothing due to how caged in I am in life. Meliodas' eyebrow quirks up.

"You might not believe this, but it was my first as well." His grin fades into his zeroed out self again as my jaw drops.

"I'm sorry!" My hands come up between us and waves around in panic, before I reach and grip at his torn shirt. "I should have asked! I thought I was giving you my first kiss not taking yours!" My stomach rolls and my chest grows tight. I have been so wrapped up in my own feelings I haven't considered what he would want. He hadn't seemed to care, but perhaps he had been shocked and not so blown away as I had thought?

Meliodas laughs. His head tosses back and my eyes snap to his bobbing Adam's apple, a smudge of soot is there leftover from his fight with Barzard. My grip falls away but his hand finds one of mine in their retreat and his other hand joins ours to cage mine in, holding it. Breathing becomes harder as his joyous expression centers on my confused one.

"I like you, Elizabeth," he starts, his voice dances with his eyes and his mouth tip up in a grin. "You did give me the best of gifts. It felt as if a rose petal fell from the heavens and caressed my lips so delicately I fear nothing will ever be as sweet in comparison."

I blink, unsure if I heard him correctly but when his hands around mine tightens fractionally and he graces me with a warm, melted smile, a fire blazes to life inside of me.

"Truly?" I whisper.

"All seven of my hearts stopped and honestly I'm dying to know if our next kiss will be the same." His voice is open, honest, and yet I can't seem to accept his kind words. He likes me, I am still stuck on that, the words circling around my head like a buzzing fly trying to find a place to land. My palm wraps around his as the rest of what he says plays again in my mind for me to process.

He is usually so closed off it is nice to see him like this. Was it the fighting that put him in such a good mood? Or is it getting away from our kingdoms? Do I dare hope it is from being with me and our upcoming kiss? I shift a little closer, worrying before I inhale a shaky breath just to exhale and meet his gaze.

"You- you did win a kiss," I mutter, steeling myself to do this again, and his grin flashes wide but he neutrals as if trying to take this seriously. It reminds me of how he braced himself before his fights earlier today. "Close your eyes," I press, and when he shuts them some of the nerves in my tummy fades. How can he be so closed off most of the time but his eyes implore so intensely?

A chunk of time passes where I do nothing. Our hair tousles in the wind and when one of my locks breaks free and grazes over his arm his lips part in a soft sigh. I remove my hand from his and lean, my heart racing and my eyes pinching but I hold my breath as my fingers come up to touch either side of his cheeks. Meliodas angles to me, our lips lining up, ready, and I stare, noting his harsh breathing. It mingles with my own breaths and when I feel him exhale on my face it sparks my own jilted one. He stops breathing altogether.

I touch my lips to his and spread my fingers up into his hair, feeling him gently press back as if afraid to move too much. As if he will scare me away. I pull back just enough to shakily inhale but press forward again to feel his giving flesh against my own. He compared me to a rose petal but he feels and tastes like sweetbread to me. A similar hunger sparks in my core and I shiver as I realize I want to devour him.

In a few books, there have been scenes of kisses. Of fires starting and bombs exploding when characters caress as we are, but this is different. Nothing goes boom, instead, a slow build of sensations inflate inside of me. He is firm where I am soft and I like that. I feel as if I am slipping on the edge of my sensibilities as my feelings grow into a twisting urge to touch more of him, to get closer.

His chest rumbles in a growl as I linger on my third kiss, grazing my bottom lip across his top one in my retreat. The sound reverberates in my own chest and I breathe, our caress separating but my hands weave in farther to cup the back of his head to keep him here. I am not done and I inch my knees closer. My eyes open wide as I lick my lips to taste them. I can still feel him there and I wish they tasted like him, so I kiss him again, more solidly to mark myself with his taste.

"Meliodas," I whisper, a hair's breadth from another dip into him but his eyes open from the sound. His pupils are blown so wide only a thin band of green remain around the edges. "Kiss me." I direct so softly. I don't know how he hears, but his hands leave his lap. One rests on my outer thigh and the other tenderly pats my hair down until his fingers reach my neck. He doesn't pull me, as I expect, he uses his kiss to press up as he moves to his knees.

His hand at my thigh roams with barely-there touches to stop at my waist. I gasp, my mouth parting hot against his and his chest rumbles deeply again. So many sensations course through me I close my eyes as if to endure better, to feel more of what he has awoken inside of me. I am not sure how to move or what to do but we seem to manage well enough as his fingers tickle at the back of my neck and my hands fist in his hair.

"Open," he breathes and him talking against my lips feel so nice I inhale a gasp, giving him what he requests. His bottom lip slides in between mine and a breathy noise escapes me. I jolt from the sound, alarmed but too lost, having slipped from the edge of rationality while falling into Meliodas' wicked mouth.

I love how warm he feels, how my insides heat with him and I press my thighs together as I return the favor and move against him to press my bottom lip between his. One of my hands releases his hair to caress down his neck to hold him at the back of his shoulder and I use it to guide him closer. I suck, slightly, at his lip and he groans, his own fist clutching at my waist noticeably and the very tip of his tongue pokes as if he is wetting his lips but catching mine. I shudder, the little suction I have pops free as I gasp against him, breathing unsteadily.

"Again," I hush. I can feel his panting breaths mingling with mine and when I press another kiss to him, our lips part together and ever so tentatively our tongues touch. I quiver, my body burns and I moan as we explore. He seems just as caught up, making strangling noises when I dip into his mouth for the first time and our knees tap together as I inch closer.

He continuously rumbles and the noise spurs me on while his gentleness leaves me aching in another way. I had been so nervous to kiss him but now I don't want to stop. I can't be close enough and when his arm wraps around me to hold me against his hard torso I reward him with a deeper kiss. My breath trembles into his mouth and he absorbs it like a sponge left to dry out too long.

Meliodas shifts forward and ever so slightly something makes contact with my inner thigh. It is warm and firm but too much. I flinch, dropping my hands to retreat them protectively over my heart. I shake my head, eyes wide but he is still, chest still rumbling and lids shut. Meliodas' hands have moved to let me back away but they stay in the air as if he doesn't have the control over his body to let them fall limp or position them.

I catch my breath but Meliodas is still panting and his chest heaves with the exhales. His lips are parted slightly and with each sharp inhale his nose flares as if scenting something but his expression is relaxed. He calms, sitting back on his heels and drops his hands to his lap. Meliodas keeps his eyes closed and I flush, turning away from him to look at anything else.

The trees under us are lush, the valley's open and a castle looms up ahead but as I look around, I didn't know where we are. How long have we been kissing? Are we lost? I thought I aimed the sky manta in the right direction but I haven't paid attention and if we hit a wind current we would have drifted. With careful crawling, I return to the reins but I don't know the world well enough to even guess. If I had a map...

"Meliodas." I call and he hums as his acknowledgment. I glance back and his eyes are still closed as if he is just waking up from a dream. I chuckle, "We're lost." He barely cracks his eyes open, turning from me and brings his hand up as if blocking the sun to make a little shield with his palm on his brow. He looks around and points. I abide and when I give him a, "thank you", I spot that his eyes are closed again.

He did that the last time I kissed him. I flush, thinking he must have taken it seriously when I asked him to close his eyes or, maybe his hearts really did stop? I balk at the idea, turning to look him over. Is he truly this affected? My own heart races at the thought.

"Do you really have seven hearts?" I ask, trying to remember if I ever read a demon anatomy book. I thought their species differed so vastly, just by what I visually have seen, that I hadn't considered a 'standard' among them. There would have to be, to be a completely separate species. The similarities have to be numerous and I almost cursed myself for overlooking this. I should know this stuff if I am going to marry Meliodas.

Not 'if'.

I have to marry Meliodas. My fate is set and I wish we can unfolded differently, I know I would be less wary of him if I had a choice.

Some of the floating calm that has poured into me hisses out in a rush of breath, the last dregs remain and I hold on to the last bits of the light feeling. My hands sag on the reins and I hunch into myself. He likes me though, I know that. He reacts to me and hasn't kissed anyone before too. Which... is weird isn't it? He is free to go where he pleases and do what he wants.

"Yeah," he answers over the wind. "How many wings do you have? Or do goddesses control how many they summon?"

"I only have four." I stretch my shoulders back, feeling a little better that Meliodas didn't know something as simple to me as how many hearts he has is to him. He smiles when I peek back but his hair hangs over his face, blocking his eyes. The landscape starts to look familiar after a few flaps of the sky manta's body and I look to the clouds, trying to spot my city.

"Did you like it?" He coaxes and I flush. Of course, our kisses blew me away. My core still pulses and I want to do it all over again but fear we will be spotted by a scouting goddess. He breathes life into me and I lost my senses.

"Yeah." I mutter, nervous when I turn to him and he doesn't meet my eyes. "Did you like it?"

"I always love being with you. I'd take you away all the time if I could." He quips, he rubs at his face as I realize he means if I liked Viazel, not about his kisses. I flush all the hotter. Now that we are closer I drop the reins and sit half facing him and half watching where we are going.

"I'd like that," I admit, awkward as the Sky Manta curves nearer the city. A few angel guards gleaming in bright armor near us, scrutinizing and Hendrickson grips his sword as he stares at my demon escort. Instinctively, I reach my arm out to angle it between the guard and Meliodas. It doesn't do much but it does draw the sentry's eyes away.

We pass, soaring with a little circle before we land in the back of my castle with a solid thump. Meliodas hops off first, reaching up for me and rather than fly I slip down the slope of the beasts back into his arms. I grip his forearms as he lifts me to my feet and in the move, he dips his face into my hair. With a quick inhale he smells me. We are separating, my fingers lingering on his bicep when a snort sounds.

I jump back, feeling as if we are caught doing something wrong, but we really are not. I look to Meliodas but he is looking toward the sound and I follow his line of sight. A black beast of a Wyvern sniffs the sky, another snort cut through the air as it exhales through its nose and as it steps forward, Meliodas positions himself between me and the dragon.

He needn't have.

"Who's a good boy!" I coo, stepping around Meliodas until his arm comes out to stop me. I smile to him but he doesn't look my way, intent on the beast. "Come here!" I call to the dragon and the beasts horned head dips, tongue lolling as he bounces nearer, bigger than the sky manta. Meliodas simply drops his arm and seems to want to see what will happen, walking alongside me as I move to meet the sweet beast.

As soon as the dragon looms overhead before me, I reach up and scratch at his underbelly, then up and under his chin which he moves to give me access to. "Veronica acts like this good boy is all bite but he is just goo if you scratch him right. I think that's how she captured him but she will never admit it." The Wyvern, Griamore, flops, the ground rumbling as he rolls to expose his belly and the two of us duck under his head as he lays it down to stretch.

Meliodas chuckles as I scratch my fingers farther down to the dragon's tummy. A deep purr rumbles from under my hands and I give Griamore soothing words and compliments. "You are the toughest boy, the best boy." I show Meliodas the beasts tickle spot and Griamore shudders, his scales clicking and wings spread wide to shade us from the sun. "He'll do anything for cheese too." I give Meliodas a side whisper in a joking tone but he watches the dragon stretch without responding.

"You take down dragons," Meliodas mutters, "with your little fingers alone." He doesn't look when I turn to him.

Griamore snorts, his nose looping around to nudge at my hip and I stumble from the force, catching myself on the beasts rounded chest before me. I laugh, righting myself to push him back. The dragon plays dead, flopping back dramatically and Meliodas' chuckle rings through the air. I jerk to catch his expression but he turns away. After spending so much time with him where he is constantly staring at all parts of me, I feel strange that he isn't doing that now.

"Why won't you look at me?" I ask, stepping back from the playing dragon. My hands clasp together as I worry that perhaps our kiss has changed his mind, that maybe he doesn't like me anymore. Has he been trying to force his feelings for me this whole time and I am so bad at kissing he can't even face me?

"I don't want to scare you," he confesses, squaring up to me but his gaze stays down at the grass between us. The sky manta lifts off, and I frown, glancing over at the renegade flapping animal back to Meliodas.

"From looking?" I puzzle, bending to try and meet his gaze. He takes a long exhaled breath before straightening, meeting my eyes. A tiny gasp escapes as the start of his demon mark is shining on his forehead, a black smudge that kind of looks like a swirl. Rather than the emeralds that usually shine, his eyes are deep onyx. My jaw slackens but I snap it closed and cover my racing heart with my palms. He's a demon but it doesn't matter. "How did... I mean, is there a reason... or does it happen sometimes?"

I know very little about demons and I feel inadequate. His eyes storm, the black in them moving as if it is alive and as I look into him, I do grow more and more afraid but he has an actual expression on his face. His brow is pinched in concentration and apprehension, as if he is anticipating a scream to burst from my lips at any second.

"Inside I have a lot of power and it is sentient to a degree. It's... like a soul for me, demons in general struggle to contain their inner selves." His voice is careful as if talking me down from doing bodily harm. "I won't hurt you." He promises and I smile, waveringly but I force myself to step toward him. I nod, bending and to show him I am not terrified I aim to kiss him once more. His dark eyes widen as I near to give him a press of lips like our first one but an angry shout stops me.

My sister's voice is heavy in condemnation and I yelp, stepping back with a burning face. I spin, alarmed at having been caught. Griamore rolls, eyes opening to look at Veronica as if the sun rises and sets from her grumpy silhouette. "Father is making me go to the fifth wedding of the giant king!" Her finger comes up to point at me as if I caused this.

I look down at myself as if where she points will have the answer. A fifth wedding? Why is that my fault?

"I haven't gotten to ask her yet," Meliodas calls out, looking back at the dragon rather than my sister. His demon mark must not have faded yet. "I petitioned your father first, with all the details, but I thought you might want to see Megadozer. The giants do weddings much differently than either of our clans." He grins sideways and I look between Meliodas and Veronica, who is storming nearer.

"And, stop reducing my monster of a dragon to a weak little puppy." Veronica admonishes, glowering over Griamore with a long angry set to her eyes. "He may not look like it now but he eats demons in one gulp." She means it to intimidate Meliodas but I giggle.

"He can't eat Meliodas now though, I showed him Griamore's tickle spot." I turn, strolling that way to dig back into the Dragon's hide and the beast gives jumping snorts from his nose, his version of a laugh.

"Elizabeth!" Veronica scowls but Meliodas chuckles, his hands find his pockets and he taps back on his heels as if unsure if he should leave or not. "I'm not going to that idiot's wedding! He remarries with the seasons! I need you to stay here, or convince father-"

"Just don't go," I tell her, leaving Griamore and walking to Meliodas' side. "I'm going to see Meliodas to the gate, we can eat together or have tea when I get back, we'll come up with a plan. But, since Meliodas asked me to go, I'm going," I address Veronica but take Meliodas' arm. My sister stomps to Griamore, snapping at him to get into a 'warrior stance' but the dragon is too relaxed, looking wide-eyed and adorable as he ignores her demands.

We leave them behind. His arm is warm as we walk through the gardens and around the side of the castle I grow more and more flushed. His head tilts in my direction and I hear him inhale and exhale shakily.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask you first, about Megadozer. I thought it would take Lord Bartra longer to approve." Meliodas hushes, warily flashing his dark eyes to look at mine before they flit away.

"My father likes you, he didn't before. But, he didn't know you. He does now, with me recounting some of our talks and whatnot," I explain and he gives a little 'huh' before we meander down the front path and around the stairs that lead up to the front doors of the castle. We go the opposite way, farther from my home. "I want to thank you for the little adventure and for... uh, the incentive," I whisper at the end and his laugh chimes.

"I can still taste you on my lips," he smirks, staring and when we reach the gate I can't look away. "I'll see you in a few days." Meliodas opens the gate, dips around me and waves his goodbye. My smile matches his as he continues down the street, walking backward to stare.

I turn when far in the distance he falls out of sight. Now, to see what I can do about Veronica. I return to where I left her but as I approach another voice rings through the air. Hendrickson is speaking to her angrily and I listen as he asks about another scouting mission.

I give my sister a confused look and she shrugs diving headfirst into a rant about how demons should stick to their own kind as she takes my arm and guides me away. "I don't care if they have their own magic that binds _them_, you stay away from Meliodas, Ellie. He isn't good! Don't go to Megadozer. It's two nights and that is too long to be alone with him! Who knows what will happen!"

But her words don't frighten me. Instead, I grow excited. Two days away, on an adventure! Who knows what will happen!


	12. Chapter 12: Assumptions

Chapter 12: Assumptions

Jelamet's hands shake as she gathers up our empty teacups and barren kettle. The ceramic clinks together from her grip and I go to her, abandoning my attempt at folding the blanket she had used during Meliodas' visit. With a swoop, I take the tray from her and the mobile half of her face matches her other to complete her scowl.

"I'll get the door for you, dear," Jelamet forces out and I choke back my giggle at her surly tone but barks of my laughter escapes with each step across my sitting room. She side-eyes me until we reach the hall and sighs through her frustration. "He is a good man." I know right away she means Meliodas.

"Yeah." I answer, but she continues at a mumble, "Of course, I think he's wasting his opportunities but what does an old lady like me know?" I ignore her, used to her ramblings while thinking of Meliodas and I's parting. I lick my lips, tasting him there and I grow warm. At the gate he had been expectant again, looking up at me with wide green eyes. After I grazed my lips with his, his eyes had turned onyx but he kept them open and watched me bend to him. He left with a smile and now that I faced a few days without him I find myself... missing him. I think about him often enough and when the urge to see him rises too fiercely I go to my pile of packages to open one of the gifts he sent over the years. It helps pass the time while I wait for my life to begin.

We are in the side hall, walking at Jelamet's pace when she halts. "Did you hear that door shut?" I turn to my elderly companion but her brows are pinched and she looks to me seemingly as confused. The door in question, the one she steps nearer, I haven't seen open since I was a child. "We haven't had need of the dungeons in years," I hush, acting as if we are sneaking but Jelamet nods and creeps along. When we reach the door she twists the knob but it doesn't turn.

"Locked," Jelamet mutters before she raises her fist and knocks firmly. "Open up, I saw you go in there!" she calls out, then she pauses to listen. I hold the tea tray steady while we wait for an answer but none comes. After a moment she shrugs and moseys along. I follow, frowning but letting it pass, thinking someone must have been sent down to clean up the old place. Perhaps it is on rotation today and I avoid the fear that trickles in about my dearest companion.

After we have everything clean and back in its proper place, I only have an hour before dinner. Our tea visits last for as long as Meliodas can stretch them, today has been no different, and butterflies erupt in my tummy just as Mael finds me in the hall and starts his guarding. He follows me, which drives the pleasant feeling away. He waves when I glance over and then nudges his head to get my attention when I give a double-take. Mael's trying to tell me something but I don't give in. I walk Jelamet to her room as she's at her limit and I shut her bedroom door before Mael follows us in.

I help her dress and tuck her into bed but as I turn to go she grabs my hand. "Ellie, read that book on your nightstand." Her brow is sweaty and I take the rag draped over the water bowl on her side table to dab at it. She's warm through the fabric. I spark my healing glow and her brow relaxes as her grip of my hand slackens, before falling.

My heart races and my lungs struggle. Jelamet is fading and without her, I am not sure what I will do. Nothing good will be left here if she's gone and I bend, pressing my lips to her forehead before I clean up around her. When things are in order, I take the bowl with the rag and I exit her room to refill and refresh it, pricks of tears stinging in my eyes.

"Elizabeth!" Mael calls as I purposely ignore him on my way passed. "A letter came for you when you were with your visitor." I stop, turning back confused. Only Meliodas writes to me. He fumbles with his satchel before pulling out a pearl-pink envelope addressed to me, which he steps closer to extend it before my eyes. I accept it, dazed as I mutter my thanks. With the bowl of water balanced in one arm, I flip the envelope over but it just shimmers in the light, nothing else is written. I don't even recognize the looping font.

I tuck the thing under my arm and finish my task for Jelamet. No one is in the kitchen when I enter so I am alone with Mael as he follows me. "No one is going to abduct me in my own home. People don't even know I exist," I hiss as I add Hibiscus and cucumber to Jelamet's healing water, giving it a zap of health which sparks a glow in the swirling liquid.

"Mayhaps," Mael gruffs, actually responding. That is more than any of my other guards give me and although I still bristle internally, I think I've reached an impasse with Mael. I return to Jelamet's room, arrange the rag over her head and leave the bowl by her bedside. To her sleeping face, I whisper, "I'll come back after I read this and eat. I'll take my dinner in here, we can eat together if you are up."

On my way up, I look for Jennah or Zaneri to tell them where I will be taking my dinner but every place I go is empty. Even with Mael at my back, I feel alone and I miss Meliodas. He was here hours ago but the absence of him now feels like a gap inside is widening. I'm hollowing and I feel uncomfortable here. I frown. Dad is gone, he left as soon as Meliodas had for the temples, seemingly on business but I hope he connects with Margaret and gets to know Gilthunder while visiting.

Is his absence part of the problem? I shake, knowing it's Jelamet's health and being alone in this big empty castle that's affecting me. Getting to know Meliodas is one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me and yet the feelings he's stirring are troubling. Not only the warmth that floods my body when I think of our kisses or his dark gaze but the longing and overwhelming uncertainty of how he feels is stifling.

In my rooms, I close my study's door behind me but through the crack, I see Mael rest his back against the wall beside it, unphased. He is used to his role by now but I can't seem to settle into having guards around. I've seen them as gatekeepers preventing me from leaving for so long I can't view them in any other way. 'Protectors' do not fit in the box I've put them in. Still, I take a breath to ease my building tension and make my way to my desk. I sit, trying to get Meliodas out of my head as I look over the pearlesque envelope once more.

With a few tugs at the glued down fold, I pry up the paper and maneuver out a letter on fine, thick paper. I skip the entire body of the text to read the signature and my heart races. Gelda? She is my older sister's best friend or was back in the day, and I had known her as a child too but never have we corresponded. It's too long to be a 'thank you for attending' letter.

I read it, then read it again as I try to decipher through the formality of what she is truly wanting. The hints that I find most alarming are, '_I would love some advice on the mixed-species relationship'_, and then again when she wrote, '_If there is a way to handle the demon-instinct please help me do the same_.' This confuses me but I gather my own fancy paper and invite her to tea, after dinner to accommodate for her night inclination with a little note about staying the day like old times if she does not wish to travel after coming so far.

The date I give is two days following my return from Megadozer but given the time it takes to deliver these letters, I need this out today. Still, I pull out another page to write another letter while Gelda's ink dries. There is a chance this will reach him before we leave and I do have the gold for a rush delivery but without Mead I'll just use the castle's couriers.

I actually let my feelings take over and I ramble about how I'm affected by him in the lightest way I can express. I try to explain what it is like in my life and how I finally have something to look forward to. That I wish marriage wouldn't be my means to accomplish that. I have dreams but that I am so stuck where I am that it is seemingly my only escape. I flush reading it over, adding at the end that the freedom he allows me and how safe I feel with him are gifts worth more than anything I've ever been given before. Then, I end on my worry about Jelamet and how utterly lost I will be without her. That she is the only person I love with everything I have.

I fold up and address the envelopes. I go to my room to grab the Demon Culture book off my end table, wondering if Jelamet had meant one of the other books I had there as this one is rather boring. Still, I want to finish it. I am careful to send the right letter to the right place through the castle's carriers and after talking to Zenari, I take my dinner in Jelamet's room. She looks peaceful but I still drip the healing water to her forehead to fortify the old woman.

"Please be okay," I tell her. Tears filling my eyes but not falling as I know how tough she is.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

The next evening Jelamet woke long enough to scold me for mourning, to get on with my life and, "for the love of all that is holy, you better be packing for your trip! Don't postpone your life for me." So now, I lay looking at my ceiling after my bath, where I didn't splash around as I didn't have the need for it, wishing I could sleep. I frown, thinking of Jelamet having not eaten more than a few bites when I took dinner with her this evening.

Mael is outside my door again as his father had left with mine for the temples yesterday and they have still not returned. I expected them today and I wonder what is keeping them. My hopeful side wishes for reconciliation between Margaret and our father but more than likely it's a Lord matter once more. I hope they are not in danger which then brings me to worrying about Meliodas. He is hunting a few criminals down, the people who have been taking and killing those in a mixed species relationship.

"He'll be fine," I mutter to myself, knowing he is powerful. My eyes close, the sounds of the silent emptiness around me no comfort but the thought of my life not always being like this is nice. My mind fills with imaginings of what the demon territories will be like. Meliodas lords there so I will make my final home among his kind, but my stomach drops and my mouth dries as I think, 'unless he finds his fated one'. He is kind, so when that happens I doubt he will turn me out on my rear with nothing. Perhaps I can have my own place then, control my own life. If it happens before I have children then I will truly have no ties.

No smile graces my lips as the final thought I have is Meliodas, expression open and wide to a faceless beauty who has taken his heart so easily when it's taken us so much time to connect how we do now. Sleep is uneasy, I'm in and out, restless. So, when my window's lock snaps and I hear the metal hit the floor I'm wide-eyed. A rush of things flood my mind, how my magic has only been used to heal before, that I don't know how to alert my guards and as subtly as possible I peek over my blanket to see my window being pushed inward, the curtain stretching over top of it. A dark figure is there, I sense the barest bit of dark magic but it's being repressed, the flare fading just as quickly as it pulsed.

The figure turns to shut the window and I bolt up out of bed, my wings blooming as I fly at top speed to slam into my door. I fumble with the knob to twist it just as a hand braces it shut. A scream bubbles up but I hear a whisper, "it's me," and the terror rushes out as if he pulled the plug on my panic attack. My wings glow and as they fade, blinking out, it takes our light source, the moon only doing so much through the crack in the curtains.

"What are you... are you okay?" I reach for him, touching his cheek and he leans into it, seemingly desperate for my touch. My throat closes up and butterflies take off in my tummy but I step to him, wrapping him up in a hug and he's quick to embrace me back. He isn't okay. "Can I heal you?" I ask and he shakes his head yes before I flicker my magic once more. He sags into me, his face nuzzling into my neck and he inhales so deeply I know he's scenting me.

I read about it in the demon book I finished at Jelamet's bedside and I flush, trying to think back of all the times he's smelled me before. He groans, his arms tightening around me when a soft knock sounds on my door, then Mael's voice sounds through the wood, "Lady Elizabeth?" The knob turns and I freeze, my nerves so high my wings bloom again. A squeak escapes me but Meliodas simply leans away enough to put his hand on the door to stop it from opening for a second time. He peers to me under his brow, his eyes black and I give another start at the sight of them. He closes his lids, ever attentive, and tilts his head to indicate the door. I catch on.

"S-sorry Mael, it's fine. I just had a bad dream," I rush, sounding squeaky and I wince, stepping back and releasing Meliodas to fold my arms over myself in protection. With his eyes shut I don't know where to look and I feel awkward, looking around while trying to process the fact that he's in my room, secretly.

A boy, my intended, snuck into my bedroom.

"The same one from when you were a kid?" he asks and I flush that Mael remembers. "If you want me to hold your hand again, I will." My jaw drops and a low, breathy laugh of an exhale escapes Meliodas. "The cracking star isn't real," Mael finishes and I groan, embarrassed as I step back again. I call back to Mael, "No, I'm fine!"

Meliodas releases the door, which is the only indication I need that Mael must have backed away from it. That's when I notice the state of his clothes and gasp before my hands cover my mouth. He's in tatters, dark stains on his front and I examine down his body, his pants are ripped to be shorts, his calves down to his feet are bare and tense. I reach for him but notice the dark smear on my fingertips, then looking down at my nighty to see his dark stains had transferred to me. I had known he was hurt but to be bleeding like this?

"What happened?" I hush, reaching the rest of the way forward to touch the rip under his collar bone. My fingertip meets his warm healed flesh and I feel a soft tingle spread up my arm. I retreat, wide-eyed as I look to the door that separates us from Mael, trepidatious. In my movement he snags my hand from the air and interlaces our fingers, bringing the back of it to his lips for a kiss. His eyes open when he peers up from my hand.

"I'm stressing you, pushing you to your limit. I'm sorry," he starts. "I swear, I was only coming to make sure you were here, but the nearer I came I couldn't seem to turn back." Meliodas' grin goes crooked as he tilts his head. His other hand comes up to the back of it sheepishly, his hair shaking as he scratches softly. "I can go. You are okay, so everything is okay."

For long moments I stare into his dark eyes, realizing he came to me because he was upset, not for physical healing- but a mental one. A piece of me softens and I squeeze his hand in mine, pulling him to my bed. "You can stay, just... over the blankets," I whisper and he nods eagerly before he slows, blanking, replying flatly, "Like the vampire ball." My room is a mess but I look him over thinking he isn't exactly clean before releasing his hand as I reach the edge of my mattress. An image of him bathing and dressing in my clothes flash in my mind. I grow warm at my core but I shake my head to stop my imagining, not offering.

All his muscled flesh, wet and dripping, just a wall away in my bathroom. Nope. I'll just clean my blankets tomorrow. Yet, when I climb under the covers after hopping up on the bed, he has a solution for his bloody clothes. I watch, peeking over the edge of my comforter as he removes his shirt in a clean swoop and reaches for the ties at his pants. I squeak again and he snorts a silent laugh through his nose. "I have undershorts," he notes, but his smirk is too satisfied before he pulls the loop through and the torn pants hit my floor. It blends in with the haphazardly thrown and abandoned clothes on my floor when he kicks it away. He stands with his legs wide and his fists on his hips for a moment, posing for me to view and I stifle my nervous giggle.

"Your dad isn't home... I've snuck past all your guards and now I'm hopping into bed with you. I'd be lying if I said I haven't fantasized about this." He's easy going and rather carefree as he sits before stretching out to rest his head on the other side of my pillow. Meliodas' wide grin shows off his canines.

"You're acting more like 'Captain' today, than Meliodas," I note and he looks stricken for a moment before wincing, turning on his side to look at me. I mirror him, reaching out to tuck the blanket under my arms to free them. My tired body relaxes with his so near and shily, I dip forward. He does too, moving as if he is thinking I am going to kiss him but I tuck lower to press my nose to his bare shoulder and I sniff him.

He smells like man, he's hot against my nose and I shiver as I breathe him in. Meliodas stills, seemingly shocked. I retreat back but his hand takes my upper arm in his grip and holds me still. "Scents are important to a demon," he mutters. I nod, biting my lip as I meet his dark eyes. He blinks, his nose flaring before he lets me go, seemingly having difficulty as he pulls away and freezes up. My brow furrows, a trickle of fear shivering up my spine from some latent instinct and he shifts, laying on his back, no longer looking at me.

Quiet settles around us and I hate that his zero face returns as I focus on the profile of his face. I thought sniffing was a greeting between a couple, I must have misunderstood when I read that. Then I flush, wondering if I mixed it up with the small section on mates the book had. Jelamet's words come to me and I wonder if that's what she meant, that I should read up on how to avoid awakening his demon nature? It doesn't seem fair that he can sniff me but I can't, him.

"Will you... tell me what happened?" I whisper. I know he is still awake as his eyes glint in the moonlight, still just as dark as he has been. I want to ask him to close them but think better of it, making an effort to get used to their intensity and the night around us helps. "You were in a bad way when you snuck in," I explain, thinking with his eyes that he might still be upset.

It takes him a few deep breaths before he hushes a response. "I will if you draw me that star that you dream about," Meliodas responds. I nod, he doesn't look over but he knows my answer as he exhales before he starts. "We found a handful of those killers, the ones murdering inner-racial couples. We weren't there in time to save the latest pair but we found out about their plans. It's a small organization of radicals." He tells this to me as if he is giving a report to someone much higher up than me, rather than just talking. My tummy flips over on itself and I fold my hands together feeling as if I've offended him.

"You fought them?" I whisper and I feel him nod beside me, returning to his previous position "Did you catch any?" His lack of response tells me no. My mind goes to the thought that they were all killed but I leave it. "So, will my guards be dismissed?" I inquire and my voice goes a little high, hopeful. I bite my lip as my figurative leash loosening seems so much closer.

"Absolutely not," he hisses, his hand roams up my thigh with the blanket between us and across my hip to follow my arm to my hand, a silent question. Immediately I take his hand and our joined palms fall between us. "I rushed here because they knew your name, where you lived, the one... before I, well before she died she vowed you'd be taken as she already dispatched hunters." When I turn he's looking at me already and I twist to my side once more to smile reassuringly at him.

"I'll be okay," I tell him and his eyebrow raises.

"I'm staying here until we leave for Megadozer tomorrow. If I can sneak in, that worries me. I'm sleeping in your bed with not one of those Angels are even aware of it," he condemns with his tone but I relax, knowing it is just his skills that make this possible. Still, I nod, wiggling closer until my knees touch his, the blanket separating us.

I do feel safer with him here. "I'm glad you came," I whisper and I scoot even closer on our shared pillow to mingle our breath. He smiles softly, a hint of the Captain returning as he dips so his nose brushes mine. "You know, you can visit my kingdom for as long as you like, we can lay 'not under the same blanket' every night if you wished it," he confesses and I expect a hint of green to return but his eyes stay dark.

My guesses revolve around him coming down from such a bloody fight, but a piece of me wonders if he is worried for me. That he is here to protect me and is still strung tight. His invitation registers and my lungs cease for a moment. Father can't say no to that, not if I bring Jelamet with me! It will be amazing to get a feel for the Demon's territory. "Yes, please," I breathe, suddenly not tired now that there is something so exciting to look forward too. Megadozer tomorrow and now an extended stay with Meliodas!

"Do you have any paper in here?" he asks, not looking away, his voice is calming. I shift up, moving my elbow up under me and letting go of his hand. I had not forgotten about drawing the star. With a little wiggling, I slip out from under the covers, tapping my bare feet to the floor as I walk to my shelf. I pull out one of the notes I saved from a gift Meliodas had sent years ago and a stick of wax. My drawing skills are not the best but I make the spinning circle with the jagged lines that come out all around it.

When it's done I drop the stick next to the melting set where I found it before holding up the slip of parchment to view it myself. The marks don't show up very well, it isn't ink but I can't leave or Mael may accost me. Still, I turn with it between my fingers, intent for the bed when I flinch, shocked. He's a foot away, standing in the shadows. The paper slips from my grip and my palm raises to my heart to try and keep it from bursting from my chest as it slows to steady again.

Meliodas steps forward, his arms wrapping around me and he tucks me close, breathing in rough shallow breaths and they sound as if they rattle around in his chest. "A-are you okay?" I ask, concerned and my heart picks up its pace again as I feel his head shift from right to left in a negative answer. "Do you want to talk about it?" I press, but he gives the same jilted head shake. Rather than say anything more, I return the embrace, snuggling in deeper in an attempt to reassure him.

"Are you tired?" he whispers into my hair, "I'll lay with you if-" I shake my head and his voice fades. I won't be able to sleep with him here. "We can talk until morning," I tell him, but the only places to sit are the bed and the single-seat at my vanity. I don't have time to tell him this as Meliodas steps back and sits on the floor. "Whatever you wish. I'm just happy to be here with you," he professes and I flush, sinking to my knees before him.

I want to kiss him and I feel comfortable enough, bold enough to do so. My hands find his shoulders and he knows, his lips part in surprise before I cover the distance between us and press a soft feather-light touch of a kiss. I inch back, biting my lip as I look over his face. His eyes are still dark and when they meet mine he relaxes, a smile tugging up on half has lips. "We can kiss until morning too," he hushes and I giggle before our grinning mouths connect for a happy press of our lips, misaligned.

We kiss, languid and slow. We explore each other's mouths. The sensations are endless and Meliodas' hands grow bolder, touching down my back, across my hips, and up my ribs just barely hinting at possibly feeling more. I hardly notice the ache in my knees but Meliodas is ever attentive and grips above the pain to pull my legs to sit straddling his thighs. I settle, bending with him so our mouths do not part and his tongue enters me.

It seems so unfair, I am mostly covered except my nightgown has ridden up my legs, but he is all bare except his shorts. He's careful not to press us too close and I'm too nervous to touch him while he's in such undress. I shiver, taking my time and over an hour passes where all we do it feel one another. He doesn't complain about the extra weight on his legs, bent over the floor and grips me tighter when I try to adjust for him. When the sunlight trickles in between the curtains, he pulls away, his cheeks pink and his eyes sparkling in their blackness.

"I'll come in through the front door. I'm supposed to be picking you up today for our trip anyways," he says, but doesn't move. The tips of my fingers play with the ends of his hair at the back of his head and I lean until my forehead touches his. "That's a good idea. It may save Mael from having a heart attack, at least. If my father finds out I've had you in my room I don't want to think of what more freedoms will be stripped from me." I mean it lightly but I end up hurting my own feelings. My fingers still in their play and I wince. That's when he retreats.

He's strong as he lifts me, standing as if holding a feather and I feel like my face is burning. Did I mess up again? I clasp my own hands together and step back. After feeling so close and intimate with him I feel off kilter with us parting like this. "I'll be exceptionally careful," he vows, dead serious, and turns to go. He's angling for the window, his steps long and solid. I reach for him but with his back to me he doesn't see it and I let my arm drop when snakes of darkness leak out of him and cover his bare flesh as he opens the window.

I shiver and that's when he turns to look. I try to blank my face but I know he must have seen my expression from his dark display as he blanks too. He smiles tightly, hoping up to the frame with a solid jump and his bare feet draw my eye. They are normal among all his demon traits, the darkness shouldn't surprise me so. I worry, growing tense as he whispers, "I'll see you in a few moments then." He sounds unsure and I reply, "We can have breakfast together." Meliodas nods, brows drawn and he gives me one last long, empty look before I blink and he's gone.

As soon as he's left, I go to the window, looking around at the side of the castle and down to the greenery but I don't see anyone. Not even a goddess. My gaze lowers and I step back to shut the glass. He came in this way and without him I feel that encroaching emptiness threatening to rise up within. By my foot, I spot a dark stain on my floor. Upon inspection, I note they are clawed, large bird-like footprints, left in faded blood. I follow them, and they lead to the door but on the way there they had morphed to humanoid.

Meliodas... Did he come in with clawed feet? I knew he'd been bleeding rather badly.

I frown. "He's... always shielding me from his true self, isn't he?" I ask and my tone is the farthest from squeaky it's ever been. It makes me wonder what else he is hiding, and what he truly looks like. "Is this all a facade?" I touch my lips, thinking he even masks his true feelings, his expressions, and a fear is created at this moment. One that makes me jumpy. What if Meliodas is tricking me into loving him?

Because I'm afraid it's working!?

"What if he's putting me back together just to break me?" A knock sounds at my door and I flinch so hard I fall back on my rear and stare up at it as if it has just punched me in the throat. "Elizabeth? Are you awake?" Mael's voice calls out and I swallow down my feelings, knowing I have to trust that what Meliodas says is the truth. So far, he's been the only one in my life to be honest about everything I've ever asked. "You have a visitor. I can ask him to wait if you want to get ready for the day, he is unannounced."

I don't respond, thinking this through. It's very possible he doesn't want to scare me. He's been so careful with me thus far, of course, he'd want me to love him before he reveals his darker secrets. Meliodas is so kind to me, and I vow to never ask him to close his eyes or repress his demon side ever again. We are of different races but inside we are connected. I just know it. "Elizabeth?" Mael calls out again and I flounder. I decide a bath will be nice, so I can wrap my head around him physically changing. He's a man I just spent over an hour attached at the mouth and now I'm nervous to see him again, apprehensive. I shouldn't be.

"Invite him to breakfast. I'm going to bathe and get ready. Jelamet too please!" I call out, high pitched and only moderately panicking. He gives his affirmation but I'm already rushing to the bathroom, intending to make this fast. At least I'm already packed for our trip and slowly the fear of being alone with Meliodas fades as the sheer silliness of where my mind went is realized.

I'm dressing when I reach the point of laughing at my own emotions. I feel so much, sometimes it's hard to think. "As if that man would ever hurt me," I whisper to myself, tugging on a pair of stretch pants, finding the shirt I want that buttons up the front. When it's on and I deem myself casual enough for our trip, I pull my wet hair into an updo. "With him, I'm happy. Nothing can take that away."


	13. Chapter 13: Surprises

Chapter 13: Surprises

She looks well, standing tall before me and giving me a stern eye as I assess her. Meliodas is still clothed in his darkness with no bag for our trip, but during our tense breakfast with Mael and Jelamet observing, he reassured me that he will manage. I had my own pack ready and I grip both its handles in my hands before me. "You're sure?" I ask again, eyeing around her room as she hadn't left her own space.

"Elizabeth Liones!" Jelamet starts her third scolding, shoulders back. "You and that man must go on with your lives. I will not have you stay in this castle a moment longer than you have to and especially not on my account." Half of her face shifts to a grin, the other always sagging but she stands strong with the help of her cane. I scrutinize her, really looking into her eyes as I don't believe her. She's putting on this show so I won't worry because she's stubborn. "Go, or I'll bitterly complain the entire time when you could be on an adventure."

Meliodas though, he steps beside me and draws my attention. My worrying eyes and frown meet his and I'm a bit surprised to see the expression on his face but he's been showing more of his feelings so the shock fades quickly enough. "If you want to stay, that's fine. I'll set up near here so we can-," I see his eyes shift toward Jelamet before he blanks, his face dropping as her cane soars through the air and slams into the back of his head.

"Jelamet!" I screech, stepping forward while dropping my bag to touch the side of his face to protect him, my other hand roams into his soft hair to feel the solid knot forming from the wack. Why did he let her hit him? I frown as she shoos us, raising her cane again and I position myself between them enough to get my point across. "None of this! Go! Let an old lady rest," she complains and I finally relent as Meliodas takes my waist to guide me toward the door.

He snags my bag up, guiding us out and we walk down the hall silently. I'm still shocked she hit him but when I peek over to Meliodas he has a soft, wry grin on his face. "She'll be okay, right?" I ask and his handsome face softens around the edges as he nods. "That woman is too stubborn not to be," he quips and immediately I feel better, more at ease with his reassurance. I think he can tell as he takes my hand then and holds it until we meet my clan's mage, Vivian, in the great hall as scheduled.

She's in a red dress, the standard mage cloak is gone and her knobby, twisted staff is in her grip but at the end is a claw-like ominous hand. Her eyes roam over us and I suddenly know what Jelamet must have felt like with me looking her over so intently as Vivian does the same to us. I flush a bit as I feel dissected visually before she asks, tightly, "Where to?"

His arm is firm around my waist when we stop before her, the hall is empty and her words echo softly around us. I take a breath, unsure why I need it when I'm in my own home and at Melidoas' side. My thoughts scatter though as Meliodas grins, his hand squeezing just enough to give me a signal to something but I don't know why as I look to his profile as he speaks.

"I want to show her the scenery so drop us at the border between Megadozer and the Fairy Forest. There is this mile marker between the two, a statue of the old Kings- Gloxinia and Drole, right there please." He gives me a flash of a side smirk that I would have missed if I hadn't already been looking at him. My cheeks grow hot just from the gaze but he's looking back to Vivian once more. When nothing happens for a moment, I refocus as well and I'm surprised to see our mage is seemingly staring over our heads. I assume in concentration but her mouth is set so hard I can't peg it until she jolts. Her eyes fall to the hand on my waist before she bows and I feel us fading before I watch the darkness come.

I'm not afraid as my dream comes to mind and I try to let go of my worries about Jelamet as a new piece of the world becomes solid around us. It's almost as if we stayed still and the earth spun over and under itself to reach us in time. I smile softly as I see the large, overgrowth before us. The green foliage and soft dirt greet me, the smells are fresh, and the warmth embraces me as a soft breeze flutters around us.

Meliodas releases me, spinning on his heels to face the other way and I have a hard time pulling my gaze from the canopies, the sounds of insects and wildlife so inviting. Still, my eyes follow him after a moment. Behind me is an expanse of dirt, the ground packed down with a few struggling weeds breaking up the grey and brown rocky landscape. With nothing really to look at besides rocks my attention shifts to the statue to the left of Meliodas, and where he is looking.

A giant with four arms and an eye patch had his huge lips in a kissy face with a long-haired fairy with butterfly wings' cheek pressed to them. The thing stretches into the sky and if the massive trees weren't beside it I know it would look much bigger. The fairy forest makes proportions feel off. I marvel at the detail I can see through the grime and vines, taking in the divots of the Fairy's wings and the calf muscles chiseled to perfection. Of course, it would be stunning if it was taken care of with any regard. It's obvious this has been left to rot between the two clans.

"It was a gift," Meliodas starts. "They were the first interspecies couple in our history. I'm sure there were others before but these two are household names." I smile, wondering how the two would even fit together and when I think of Meliodas' claw footprints, I flush over the same thought for us. I look to him and I'm embarrassed but not surprised that he's already looking to me. "I have a bit of a surprise," he hushes, stepping back and appearing casual, even with the darkness clinging around him.

Meliodas looks to the rocks in the distance, nudging with his nose for me to look. "That's Megadozer, the huge formation that looks a bit like a hammer. His weddings are always something to see, lots of alcohol and lots of hooking up." Startled I snap to see him and his cheeks are pink as he shrugs in a, 'it's what they do' kind of way. He turns to the wilds and does the same motion to indicate with a nudge, "That way is the Fairy forest. They are more wary of outsiders but King Harlequin and I are friends." He smirks as I look from one side to the other a bit confused. I end with meeting his green twinkling eyes but otherwise blank face. "Which would you like to visit?" he asks softly and I stare as slowly his face melts into a gentle smile.

I point, grinning, wondering if this will cause any trouble for us but he doesn't seem to care. He tosses my bag over his shoulder and offers his hand as he turns toward the forest. My laugh echoes in the trees as I take his hand, his canines shining as he returns my expression. He's been here before as he points and explains things as we go. "We'll stay inside the Great Tree, it's the heart of this whole place." He sounds philosophical as he goes on about how everything is connected, even the races.

Seamlessly, after climbing roots like cliffs and jumping across massive mushroom tops together, the growth starts to buzz with activity. Fairies fluttering about. They all look young, are small and seem to only use flower petals and leaves for most of their clothing. I stare in awe as I realize trees are hollowed out with books, strange items, and sweets for sale inside of them. This is a city that blends in so well with its surroundings I hadn't noticed at first.

Fairies steer clear of us, taking to the skies when they see us. I'm too excited until I eye an apple tart in the hollow of a tree but the fairy promptly slides the bark across the entranceway and the inner glow vanishes. A clear, 'the shop is closed to you', gesture. Meliodas is blank-faced most of our walk through town but I whisper excitedly as we go about what I observe around us. Trade is going on. No coins, just goods from one hand to another. Pouches of berries are hanging heavily from a tree branch and I watch as smaller fairy snags one with a laugh before darting off, another following with a string of curses left behind. Softly, I giggle, leaning into Meliodas but he doesn't acknowledge the event, simply meets my eyes with ease.

Even with the forewarning about the Fairies not welcoming new people, I feel differently once I'm here. I feel out of place. Like a metal spoon mixed in with fine china. The urge to fly through the leaves and over the branches with the others above is near overwhelming but I know with barely being tolerated on the ground I don't dare join them in the air.

My doubts creep up, words of my older sister Veronica surfaces, that I am naive about how the world works. It circles and lands with a solid, 'she's right'. The vampire ball shows me how high society is and this here shows me the fairies want to be left alone, don't wish to mingle with other races. So far, I felt more connected with humans at Vaizel. Thinking of the fighting competition reminds me.

"Will Elaine be here?" I tear my gaze from a child fairy being flown away from us to meet Meliodas' emerald eyes. He's blank, his stare is hard and we come to a stop in a patch of moss.

"It's not what you expected," he states calmly, his lips closing in a straight line to rest. I look to them, flushing before dropping my gaze to his dark feet. His darkness licks at the ground but doesn't burn away the moss. His forearm flicks with it and I move my hand from his grasp to trail up to the power. It parts from his flesh as if giving me free rein to feel him. I don't answer, he technically hadn't asked and after a pause, he exhales. "Elaine and Ban are in Camelot. They offered us their place though, in the Fairy tree. You'll like that."

Meliodas voice sharpens slightly at the end and I snap my eyes up but he's turning away, the set of his jaw all I catch before he's guiding me gently by the forearm, protectively. Our conversation takes less than a moment and when I look around once more we are alone. The buzzing of wings is fading in every direction. The fairies have vacated their mini city because of us. I flush even hotter, swallowing thickly, wondering if I should have chosen Megadozer. My eyes brim but I suck it down and as he helps me maneuver the steep slope of the next tree root. I make sure my hair shields my eyes. He's so perceptive and I don't want him to think I dislike it here but I wonder if he's upset about the fairy's lack of welcome as well.

After a moment I decide it doesn't matter because exploring the forest with Meliodas will be amazing. I refocus, my chest easing as the calmness around me starts to seep in. Fairies dislike visitors but obviously a few have to be the exception. Elaine is with a human man. I pause, biting my lip before we touch down in the next open expanse of dirt between the massive trees we were walking through. "How, uh... Did you meet Ban?"

"We met in a competition, underground," he answers, his voice still flat. "Man can take a beating, as you saw," Meliodas smirks back at me. "He put me in my place. I was a bit rougher in my younger years, too cocky and Ban put things in perspective. Elaine and Ban have been wonderful friends." I nod, looking at the massive bird's nest, stepping a bit closer to Meliodas as I do not want to meet the animal that lives in it.

"Does he know who you are?" I question at a whisper, unsure if we are pretending on this trip.

"Yeah," he answers softer. "We have never spoken about it though. It's never mattered to him." A flippant chuckle leaves him. "I think it helps that his lady is royalty here. She's the princess of the forest and the Maiden of the Fountain of Youth." This eases my worries. The fairies will branch out more if their own princess is.

Our jaunt is peaceful after that. Meliodas' shoulders ease and his darkness stops flaking. He starts pointing again and giving little tidbits about types of greenery and where things are located. A massive beast of a _Bovidae _passes, grazing with his snout for foliage, his horns stretch into the sky. Meliodas pays it no mind but when I halt, he does, watching it with me until it goes on its way. Its hooves tap softly on the dirt, his white and brown fur shining in the speckling of sunlight that breach through the canopy.

"Everything is beautiful here," I whisper and I hear him hush his agreeance before we move on. It seems like only moments pass when we reach a wall of hard vines inner linked so tightly I can't see through them. "We have to fly," Meliodas directs and I bloom my wings a fraction of a second before him. They are much easier to invoke lately and together we lift off, his darkness expanding. Our fingers are intertwined and halfway up, I brush my wing to his just to see what will happen with our magic. I think for a moment the two will blink out, cancel one another but instead my wing feels like water slipping through warm mesh. Tingles spread down my spine and I shiver, abashed at having not thought it through.

"You're like cool spring water on a hot day, Elizabeth," he tells me and my stunned gaze meets his soft one. For a moment, I feel like I'm finally seeing the sun and something gentle bubbles inside me. My throat tightens and my lips part as I try to swallow the feeling back down. He's open and I watch as he mirrors me, his own eyes widening and his Adam's apple bobs but at that moment our ascent reaches the top of the vines at canopy level and the great tree comes into view.

Branches stretch into the clouds, the crown of the leaves fades into the mist and the sight is breathtaking. The tree stretches over the others below and with the size of this one those massive trees below seem small now. The teeny ones I'm used to are infants in comparison. I marvel, dropping Meliodas' hand to fly forward, wanting to reach the branches closest to us. The shade is warm, the scents become sweeter and the air fresher. "This is... paradise." I whisper and a few feet behind me I hear Meliodas give a, 'uh-huh' from his throat in agreeance.

"We'll be staying here?" I ask, finding the news harder to process even though I've known it for a while. "On top of this tree?" The giant leaves rustle softly as the nearest sturdy looking branch comes into landing range twisting toward me. I angle for it, tapping my toes down softly to test if it will hold before I drop my wings when I know the wood will hold. It gives under my weight with a little bounce and I giggle as I tiptoe up the branch.

I weave around the sister branches coming out of the one I've chosen to follow until I stop to find Meliodas. He's not fair. "What's that?" I ask, pointing over his shoulder and as soon as he turns, I step off the branch and fall through the leaves below with a laugh. I bloom my wings after, seemingly a thousand fast heartbeats, before flapping furiously to change directions as I hear Meliodas' heavy chuckle in his pursuit.

Flying through the great Fairy tree is amazing, but doing it with Meliodas playfully is about as good as I imagine it can get. I dip, slipping around tufts of greenery while he gives chase. He toys with me, trailing his fingers up my back in my last attempt at escape and I gasp, cutting off my laugh. Which sparks his own hearty one. "I'll always come for you," he promises as I loop around a branch and soar up, seeing how far and fast I can go in an attempt to breach the canopy here. The air thins, growing cooler and mistier. He follows but our game is over as soon as I hit clouds. I see something familiar, a flap of dark wings in the distance but it's gone through the haze by the time Meliodas joins me.

"Are dragons around here?" I ask, thinking Griamore would be a far way from home if that was truly him. Meliodas mock tackles me, clouds dispersing as his arms embrace me and I waste no time wrapping him up as he acts alarmed. "Yes, better stay close or something other than me will gobble you up." He smirks as I flush, processing his words and wondering if he means kissing. I can't help but look at his lips, which twist up a fraction higher with my gaze on them before he spins us in the air, he removes one arm to point. I follow the direction, expecting to see another dragon but instead, the clouds have parted and the vast forest stretches endlessly outward. A sea of green.

All this fresh air and I forget to breathe.

We stay until the clouds close up once more and in the mist, he takes my hand to guide us down. The moisture evaporates as we continue. I think he's lost as we circle the great tree until we head to an alcove near the top under the canopy. A wall of dangling vines is before us and he parts it while stepping down on cush moss. "Come on." He grins, ushering me in with his other arm.

I duck inside, peering around. We enter the tree, the air is cool and fresh. The walls are dark wood. The floor is soft moss and it's pleasantly humid. Edible plant life lines the floor in different sized vases on either side of the entrance. In a few steps the room opens up and I gasp, my eyes wide as I look around at the single oval room. A bed is in the center, a desk cut into the wood against the far wall and rows of shelves are mirrored on opposite sides etched into the walls with bottles and bottles of alcohol.

"What do you think?" Meliodas' eyes are on me when I turn to his querying voice. For a flash, he looks a bit anxious but it goes so fast I'm unsure if it was ever there at all. He grins, goes to a side shelf after tossing my bag to the bed and hops up to snag a bottle from the top. When he touches back down he spins in place, uncorking it with a swift tug and he jerks his head toward the desk. I step closer but stop when he reaches up into the cabinet over the tabletop for glasses.

"There is a bathroom through that doorway." He points to his left with the opening of the neck bottle and I tilt to see, timidly staying back. There is nothing there, just a wall of chiseled out wood and Meliodas pours a drink, before stepping to the side and pushing against said wall. It unhinges and pops forward. "That's the only secret I know about." He winks at me and I'm unsure if he means that isn't the only secret or if he's trying to put me at ease. Meliodas pours the second drink and steps back to me, offering the other glass as he takes a drink of his.

I sip it, trying to stifle the instant wince it induces but Meliodas' chuckle rings through the air. I grow warm but I think it's from the drink as it soothes the longer I focus on the feeling slipping down to coat my belly. I take another sip with a small smile, my nerves easing. Being alone with him, truly, as Mael isn't outside nor Jelamet sitting in the corner, is different for us. It's only happened a few times. My cup is empty soon enough.

"Are you hungry?" he questions softly, but I shake my head no as I slowly meander to the desk to set my cup down. "Meliodas?" I whisper, finding it hard to meet his eyes. "Can I ask you something? A favor?" I fear I've spoken too softly as I don't even register the sounds. Yet, he follows, putting his cup beside mine by leaning and reaching past my side. He smells good. "Of course," he breathes and his exhale tickles before he leans back, rocking on his heels.

"Can I see what you look like?" I bite my lip as soon as the words escape between us. His green eyes flash stark, his mouth slackens before he blanks to stare silently. I try to smile, fail, and end up folding my hands together over my belly full of fluttering nerves. I should have built up to asking, or inquired into why he is holding himself back to get to the root of the problem. A slew of possibilities come to mind, that he's self-conscious or he wishes he were like this, like his alter ego, The Captain. "Why?" He asks, his voice empty but his volume is solid.

My eyes flick to his and when they meet I can't look away, caught in their swirling emerald depths. This matters, he is truly listening and I take a deep silent inhale as I gather my thoughts as the weight of this presses down on me. "I want to know you," I plead and his head tilts just enough to the side for me to notice. "I do, I... I feel like I do, but I don't want there to be any secrets. For either of us to hide anything, even the little stuff." My smile comes easy, thinking I've said this well but his eyes tighten and his lips don't mirror mine.

I'm surprised he hasn't softened and my own elation falls away with my smile the longer he's blank before me. I expect an answer and the silence stretches. I fear I must have pushed a button unintentionally. "I'm sorry," I whisper, not sure for what exactly before I step forward, my fingers unlacing to reach for him as my touch usually gets a response. I need one as my anxieties are creeping up on me. When my fingers brush his shoulder he breaks eye contact to look at my hand as if he hadn't expected the caress.

"Okay," he answers, not looking me in the eye and rather than come into me for an embrace he steps back. "I don't want you to fear me," he confesses, his voice thick but I don't have time to respond as the darkness he is wearing flicks and solidifies before receding. Taking a leaf out of his book, I blank my face as best I can, anticipating the worst and hoping that he's at least not a monster.

He can't be, not with how kind and selfless he is with me. He just can't.

Yet, as he grows my tummy tightens, my throat constricts and I feel as if I am being squeezed on the inside. His darkness marks over his skin like ink, he stops growing when he is roughly a foot taller than me and I stare up at him as slowly horns twist into existence on either side of his head. I can't look at the black protrusions any longer and as neutrally as possible my eyes lower to take in his face. His skin is clear here, his face an aged version of the one I've grown to adore.

A small smile twists on my lips as I recognize him, finding him appealing. My eyes roam down over his wider frame and added buffness. The darkness, inked into his skin, moves. He's fit, with no extra limbs or flaws at all. His boxers are the only clothes he's in and I grow warm in a few places while taking in his rippling abs down to his strong legs with no hint of claws for feet. I frown slightly but his eeking darkness licking under his skin swirls reminding me that it can be solid. It's possible that power made the marks on my floor. "This is the real you?" I ask, and he snorts.

"Not at all. I've been the real me, this is simply another version of my demon self." He sounds a little different and I notice as he speaks that his canines, normally a bit larger, are even more so now. The flesh of his mouth protruding to accommodate. His hands are behind his back and I step to the side, moving toward him to lean obviously trying to get a peek. "Let me see," I whisper and he exhales slowly before he sags into his adjustment of holding out his hands, palms up to me.

They look like normal hands too, except the nails are black as night and thick pointed claws. Honestly, seeing him like this, I'm relieved. The tensing in my tummy dies a quick death and I straighten, feeling lighter and fuller in the same quick heartbeat. I lick my lips, tears sting at the back of my eyes but I swallow it down, wondering what the sudden rush of feeling means exactly. "There, no secrets from here on out." I declare, grinning before closing the little gap between us to take his hands in mine.

It's a shock as up to now our palms fit together at roughly the same size. Now, mine are small in his, his long fingers curling around to cover me and his slightly darker skin contrasts mine. He's tense, I can see it in his shoulders and I fear he is still wary of my reaction. To combat it, I tiptoe, my lips reaching for his and a soft giggle escapes me when I have to pull on Meliodas' arms for him to bend to meet me. His horns are right there and I close my eyes to remind myself that he tastes the same, feels the same and these small changes mean extremely little.

Only he does feel different. He's resistant, his mouth hard against my own and I flush, blinking too quickly as I release him while dropping to the flats of my feet. Rather than buckle to the looming thoughts of what I've done wrong, I focus on what he must be feeling and my theories center around my main hypothesis of his fear of rejection. Not that I can really do that, seeing how we are arranged to be wed after all.

With my hands free, I slip them under his arms at elbow level to wrap around his waist and I lean into him. Embracing him. He smells the same and I focus on that as I try to relearn his body with ours touching. "Elizabeth," he groans, his hands grip at my shoulders as if he is going to push me back but they caress down my back and he almost bows as if to cover me in the hug he sags into. I feel his nose in my hair and hear his heavy inhale as I whisper his name in response, my lips grazing against his collar bone.

His chest rumbles against me, like a growl but softer and I still, assessing just how warm he is against me. He feels nice, smells even better and my body reacts naturally. As if he is kissing me, my core swirls and anticipation trills up my spine. This already feels naughty as I'm not supposed to be alone with him like this and him revealing this side of himself feels like it is more intimate. His hands grab my rear and I yelp, fingers gripping at his back in surprise as he's never been so forward!

In one move he lifts me and my clinging only increases. His palms smooth over my backside, his chest rumbling against me as he adjusts to slip my thighs over his hips. I feel him against me as he steps and although the flapping and twisting of my tummy nears overwhelming, I trust him. I hear his shin hit the bed and I turn to look just as he releases me. I tumbled down, giggling as I bounce slightly on the cush mattress.

"Let me kiss you," he growls, his face looming above is tense, as if he is conflicted or fighting something within. My brows furrow as he bends forward, his knees coming up to rest by my ankle on the bed and as he is so much bigger in this form, I feel differently. I'm more intimidated. Instinctually my palms brace against his chest to hold him up and away from my body as I process this sudden change in activity.

Even with my arms between us, he dips, his head nuzzling just under my jaw and he groans hotly against my neck as he licks at my flesh there. I shiver, feeling warm slickness as he shudders above me. More of his weight presses into me and I find my palms gliding along his chest to open for him, my fingers slipping across the dips of his ribs. His tongue follows my collar bone and once more my lower tummy swirls. My body readies and he sniffs, his nose leaving my skin to scent the air before grinning down at me predatorily. His canines protruding has my eyes widen and heart racing. I wonder if perhaps Meliodas is buried in there with his demon at the fore.

"Meliodas?" I warble, shaking as I retract from him to grip my own hands together in front of my chest in apprehension. His rumbling sounds more like growling. With my fear spiking, his endless black orbs reflect my scared face like onyx mirrors that do not show an ounce of comprehension. "Come back," I whisper. He dips forward to take my mouth and this kiss is unlike all the others, hard where he's always been soft.

I meant for this new demon side of him to recede not for him to kiss again. His mouth is ungiving and I shiver, my breathing harsh as my chest clenches tighter. "Please..." He pauses, his body over mine stills and I am torn between wanting him to press on, to show me what else there is to explore in a relationship, and him giving me some time to think. I can't focus, as he is so close and my body is rushing through so many sensations.

"Elizabeth!" I hear faintly in the distance. My brows furrow and Meliodas' rumbling chest truly turns into a growl as he retreats his face from mine to look toward the doorway. The difference between his noises are vast but I don't have time to think it over as my name is called once more and Meliodas leaves me go toward the entrance. By the third yell, followed quickly by a roar of pain, I recognize the voice in the distance as he looks back to me with dark eyes, "I won't let them touch you."

He sprouts wings, dark and more like flickering shadow flames then the sloping ones I've seen before. His legs go wide and he bounds for the door as his words register. Them? I know what he's thinking and I stand, his form disappearing down the bent hall as I call out to him. "That's Veronica," I rush to the wall and look down the hall, the vases are still shaking from his movements, but he's not there. "Meliodas!"

I rush to the greenery covered entrance, blooming my wings to follow and stop him. As soon as I exit, a heavy rumble sounds below, a massive howl is heard before a clash of magic shoots one way and then ricochets back the way it came. Sparks and earth erupt, and even this high above I have to maneuver fast to avoid getting hit with the backlash. Leaves and branches from the canopy below explode up with it. This isn't my sister's doing, but as the magic fades, the noises ring clearer as a scream cuts through it all, setting my heart to race.

Veronica is down there, in the middle of that mess. I hesitate only a moment, as I am not a fighter, not by a long shot. Still, I want to try to help. Veronica is in the crosshairs. My goal is to get her out of the way so Meliodas can work to catch the attackers and I dive, avoiding sudden projectiles and the limbs of trees between myself and the ground.

It's deafening, the chaos of too much happening over top one another. Things are going so fast I barely spot Meliodas' golden hair crouching below until he's slammed in the side by a massive blur. I wince, having no time to make another decision when a shout comes from the left. The ground is torn up here, piles of earth with deep slices in it below and the forest around it is shaking from the fast fighting. Shadows cast the whole area in darkness and I struggle to spot anything as the three on one fight keeps drawing my attention.

"She's there!" A man shouts and a guttural, animal roar follows with a wet smack. I flinch, dropping a few feet in the air as a head rolls down a dirt pile. Tears fill my eyes as somehow I'm just glad it's not Meliodas or Veronica blankly staring up at me, but the nameless man's dull brown eyes set in the pale, sagging face will not ever be forgotten. I ignore the fighting, the surges of dark energy clashing against flashes of bright blue and green power. The howls and pounds take a back seat as I call out for Veronica.

The trees bend to my right and I fly that way as the massive beast Griamore swoops in, my sister armored on his back. In the shadows, I can't make her out, but I know it's her. I move in their direction when a bolt shoots out past my hip and I flinch looking back, missing what happens before me as I briefly look for Meliodas. Griamore roars, the wyvern's trembling howl shaking the trees around us.

I'm scattered, overwhelmed and I flinch back to look but just as I catch sight of my sister and her dragon a body slams into me. It's hard, ungiving and I go down, my wings dissolving in sparkling dust as arms loop around me. We spin just as a second bolt of energy wizzes past where I just stood, the wind of it picking up my hair as it soars toward Griamore. I'm cocooned as we crash to the earth, the dragon's roar sounding pained and distraught in the same moment but the body beneath me cushions me from the landing. He smells familiar, his body is bigger than I am used to so it takes my brain a moment to connect the dots but I know who saved me when darkness erupts around us.

Trees upend, screams echo distantly and I shake as I withdraw enough to look at him. He's tense, horned, bloody, and leaking his demonic void onto everyone around us. The cold overwhelms, my fear spiking and a vortex begins. Things outside of us start to spin in orbit, the sounds drowning in the wooshing winds and I feel it, the pull of the ominous darkness. Gooseflesh spreads up my arms and chills shiver down my back as I know where I am. The live version of the nebula in my nightmares.

"Run!" I whisper to myself, pushing off Meliodas' chest and finding resistance, his arms trapping me in. My skin becomes clammy, my breath shallows and I struggle, tugging and fighting against his restraining grip. I can't accept this! I shake, tears springing and falling in a shuddering breath and I call out, a strangled sob as I search the swirling darkness. "_Elizabeth!" _His voice is guttural and deep, a gravelly echo of what he sounds like as the man I knew before he changed and I still, eyes wide with tears continuously falling as I slowly rotate to look at him.

On his forehead, cracking down his face is the Star of the Night.

I freeze, trapped and horrified. His face tenses, the blood on the side only partially distracting from the sheer emotion he shows as he matches my dread. Purple hissing bolts shoot off around us and I know, I know to the depth of my core that Meliodas himself is my nightmare- the reason for my panicked terror over countless nights. A scream resonates around us, erupting with such a high decibel the void's wooshing is drowned out, my throat burns and I scramble from Meliodas using all my might.

The terrified screech continues, but the sparking dark power slows, the swirling stops until it's suspended around us as if time itself has ceased. I thrash against Meliodas, his voice just under the crying and I can't make it out. Then he lets go and I fall back, mixed up and tumbling ass over elbow. The dark purple sparks disintegrate around me as if responding to my presence and receding by my will. "Please," he pleads as the scream cuts off, dying in my throat as I land sprawled on my rear after my tumble.

Slowly, he rises, his being larger, his horns jutting into the darkness sucking into him from behind. The gore splattered across his side glints from the purple sparks of lightning flicking around him and his body has changed. His legs are black, marbled deep purple with flaking power leaking off it, but at his feet are dark three-pronged claws just like the stains left on my carpet. "You lie," I breathe, shaking and choking, inching back with my heels digging into the soil.

"Please," he reaches for me and I flinch, pushing farther away as all the manipulation flashes before my eyes. I thought he'd been different but he's not. "I've seen this before," I say, shaking and slapping at his hand. "Don't touch me! You're the worst of them!" His brows lower, his lips part as if I've hit him and his teeth grind as his hand fists before retreating from me. The last bits of darkness around us disappears inside of him and he arches back as if hurrying to accept it all. It's too late though, I've seen who he is and he's been hiding it since the start. "Why did you trick me?" I hiss, scooting back all the more and he winces, his teeth grinding as his hands find his hair to tug at as if to remove it from his skull, his horns glinting in the moonlight.

It's then that my hand, reaching back as I'm crab crawling away, hits something that's wet and giving. I turn, mortified at what's at my side. My sister's body, twisted in an uncomfortable way from her obvious harsh landing with her leg jutting in the wrong direction, and my hand hit the open gash on her calf with no response from her. "Veronica?" I whisper, as Meliodas groans, low and dreadfully pained. "Sissy?" I shift to all fours on shaking limbs, leaning over her as I fumble for her pulse point at her throat forgetting everything else now that the situation has grown dire.

Power rises in me, a soft glow emanates from my skin and in the light, my sister's bruised and bloody face comes into focus. A sob escapes me, my searching fingers soften to a caress as below me the grass starts to grow and flowers sprout, a breeze picking up around me. Meliodas moves opposite her, crouching, "Let me help you get her home," he croaks softly, but I snap forward, slapping him away as I gather her to my chest and plop back away from him.

"You did this!" I wail, rocking my sister as I burst into light, Meliodas' hair flapping in the wind I create. "I've been trapped all my life because of you, I've never had a choice- not once- and now Veronica?" My voice morphs from strangling anger to trembling sorrow. I keep her close as I stare him down, holding her tight as I fear she's lost and something too deep is bubbling up inside me. I'm gasping, tipping forward and back as I shield my sister's body from the demon who has taken everything from me, has controlled my life since I was a child. "Go away," I choke to Meliodas, eyes tight and I hate that tears still fall, that my fear of him is much higher than my anger.

"Elizabeth..." he quavers, standing and stepping back in a stumble as if recovering from a heavy blow to the head. "I've... broken us," he starts before he howls, a wasted moan to the sky as his wings appear once more and in my light I see he's healed too, that he benefited from what I was emitting. "I won't hurt you anymore." In a rush of wind, he flaps into the air, then like a shot, he bolts through the canopy above and disappears into the forest.

He's left me here and although I expect to be glad of it, my fear spikes as I look around. The forest ground is healed, the uprooted trees having been taken over with green growth and I see one, two and then the third body of the attackers Meliodas has taken care of. When I assess that I'm alone, I look down at my elder sister. "I'm so sorry," I whisper to her dirty face, knowing if I hadn't called for her she would have never gotten so close to the battle. I lured her to her death and I can't live with that guilt, it's too heavy. I feel it pressing down on me now and my audible, gasping breaths, shake us both.

I'm alone.

* * *

Hey ya'll, let me know what you think! :) Thanks.


	14. Chapter 14: Guests

Chapter 14: Guests

A knock wakes me but I roll over, pulling the covers up over my head silently. I hear my door open, soft steps across my carpet and then the sure sound of the old plate being removed from my bedside table and another fresh one to take its place. "You've not eaten anything in two days." Zaneri's voice hushes, worry deep in her tone. "Please try." I expect her to go when I don't respond but it's quiet for too long as I wait for the door to shut once more. "She left you everything, she loved you most, Ellie. I know it's hard but she planned for her end, she expected it."

My thick throat coats anew, my eyes well and leak sideways as I'm laying. My lips tremble but I suffer quietly as I don't want to speak to Zaneri. Given years and years to prepare for this and I still am not ready. Nothing is left, the nightmare void is inside me and I feel as if I can't breathe, as if I'm stuck under the water in my bathtub, but this time I'm not strong enough to pull myself out for my last-minute gasping breaths.

The wetness of my pillow bothers me after a few hours and I push it off the edge of my bed, wiping my face on my blanket as I flip to the other side. Sunbeams sneak in between my curtains, dust glowing gold as it dances in the light. I watch, dripping tears and wondering why I am trying so hard to breathe when it feels like there is no reason too. I consider cleaning up but as I move a few inches I feel overwhelmingly tired and just too weak.

Perhaps this is how Jelamet felt at the end. Her strength in life, the very life energy she lent me so often has parted with her, and I'm not sure if it will ever return. When I traveled from the Fairy forest, Griamore struggling to fly with his own wounds as I clutched my dying sister to my chest, I found Jelamet had died. The cruelties piled on as Veronica was in and out of her own troubles all that night. I hadn't a wink of sleep keeping her with us before Jelamet's funeral began in the morning. My relief for my sister the only softness I felt as I endured the ceremony.

Another plate of food comes and I don't turn over to look as I hear the commotion, staring instead at the spot on the floor Meliodas and I had sat not a few nights ago. The slip of paper with the Star of the Night crudely drawn on it is still there. Tears spring forth once more as I know what it is now: Meliodas' demon mark. He's haunted me for so long and I suspect everyone knew and just let him waltz circles around what little I had in life.

"Ellie?" A deep voice shocks me, my hunched shoulders tensing. Why is my father here? "A missive regarding you has come. I am not sure if it will cheer you. I know you've been growing to like Lord Meliodas." Fear jolts down my spine as I think something may have happened to him too and I can't handle any more loss.

My bed dips and slowly I roll to see my father, dressed down casual and he smiles sadly to me as our eyes meet. I blink, not processing that my dad is here as he's always so busy. Yet, when the vision of him doesn't fade my eyes fill and new tears start to trail down the tracks that feel engraved into my skin. His twisting up lips quivers before he takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry for your loss, sweetheart. I know she was very important to you." He sighs heavily, "to our whole family."

Before I know it, I'm moving, falling into my father's arms as I shake with tears. He's warm and safe and I feel all the heavier when he embraces me, making way for more tight sorrow to fill me. "Elizabeth," he hushes against the side of my hair. "I want to talk to you about taking over the Goddess clan. You will rule wonderfully and now that you are free, it means you can shadow me all over the realm- I know you want to see the world."

Slowly, I lean back, detangling as I suck back the thick feeling in my throat. "Free?" My brain is sticky, catching up as I process that a missive has come about me. Nothing is ever about me, the world doesn't know I exist and I take a deep breath. "Is Meliodas alright?" With the back of my hand, I wipe off my face. Father straightens, scratching at his head before pointing to the rolled-up parchment on the table beside my bed.

"He's fine," my father assured. "The arranged marriage is off. I am sorry I doubted you. I thought you were falling for him but it seems you were just angling for a way out and he let you go." He stands and vaguely I register the movement of the bed under him as I stare unseeing at the cracked window across the room where the sunlight is dim. It is my fault, isn't it? His hand heavily pats my head and I blink. "I'm proud of you." He hushes, "Please eat, she would have wanted you to. But, it's okay to take your time, with healing."

I don't process him leaving but it feels like only a second when I blink away the tears and look around to see I'm alone. The rolled-up missive is on my end table over my stack of books on demon culture and mates. I reach, hands trembling as I grip the paper pulling it to me and it shakes as I open it. The letters blur and I have to wipe at my eyes. It's just as father said and my head spins. Does Meliodas know what I've lost?

How can he do this? But I told him, while looking up at his full demon form with the carnage and my bleeding sister beside me, that I didn't want him. It had all happened so quickly, the feelings so raw, my anger burns anew. I toss the stupid paper over my shoulder, glaring and tearful as I finally get up from my bed. My legs wobble, a strange war of sorrow and outrage clash inside me as I look to my bathroom door.

A bath will be good, maybe trying to drown the nightmares out will help like it used too. Yet, as my steps slowly tap across the floor, slipping the nightgown from my shoulders, I know I won't. No one is around to scold me for making such a mess anymore, nor to comfort me. She could always tell with just a glance when I needed her and with Meliodas breaking off our engagement I wonder if anyone will know me as well ever again.

In a daze, I bathe, not bothering to attempt and face my fears of the black suffocation as I know now what my nightmares are. My self conscious had been warning me about Meliodas. But how did I know about his power like that? Had something happened when we first met all those years ago, a sliver of a memory that still existed? The person I could ask is gone and I stand, dripping and cold as I pull the plug for my bath before reaching for a towel.

There is one person here who I might be able to talk to.

I don't bother brushing or drying my hair and slip on my easiest outfit only remembering when I last wore it while entering the great hall. I'd been Liz in these clothes. A soft nagging tugs at the haze and I wonder if Meliodas will move on quickly. He's a handsome man, next in line to the throne and Lord of the demon clan while his father holds the title of King over all of us. Of course, he will have no trouble replacing me.

What's one more person forgetting about me?

Slower, I drip across the floor as I meander in the emptiness. We have a sick room and I stop before it, staring at the wood and wondering if the stubborn old fool was here in the end or refused to leave her room. I am not sure I want to know and I blink away tears as I enter with a shaking breath. Veronica is sleeping, a checkered blanket over most of her and a new head bandage around her skull. Zaneri is cleaning up supplies at her side and she meets my gaze sadly.

"She just fell asleep, she had a rough night," she whispers regretfully, dropping her eyes to her feet and awkwardly looking at the now organized medical supplies. "I'm," she stops, her head shaking from side to side, "Jelamet didn't want you to be here when she went. She wanted you to remember her as strong and..." Zaneri's wide expression meets mine, "It was peaceful."

I walk to my sister, bending to kiss her forehead imbuing it with health and healing before turning to the door. "Thanks," I whisper, heading right back to my bed wondering why I ever left it, to begin with. What reason do I have?

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

"Miss Elizabeth," Jennah calls through the door. My eyes are crusty and I groan as I roll over. I wasn't sure if I slept a few hours or a whole day away. I sat up, my clothes are wrinkled and when I feel at my head I know my hair dried messily and matted but it aches from too much rest. My mouth is dry and I try to swallow to wet my tongue so it doesn't stick. "We set your guest up for tea in your sitting room."

My guest? "Meliodas?" I ask, hopeful but my eyes flit to my end table only to remember I had thrown the missive. Our letter of separation is no longer there.

"Miss Gelda." Jennah answers, "I know usually Jelamet helps you dress but I can attend you." Her offer is well-meant but I roll out from under my covers, hastily tie my hair back and open the door with no other preparations to myself. "It's fine," I mutter to her as I pass thinking it feels too much like a betrayal to let another woman do what Jelamet had. It's silly, but it's where I am.

I had forgotten about Gelda. She had written to me and I had invited her for tea planning for it to land after my trip to the giant's clan. It had slipped my mind with Meliodas turning into a monster, killing those attackers and almost my sister, and then finding out Jelamet died. My mind whirls, trying to remember what exactly her letter had said. She has concerns about Zeldris and thought I could help?

My guess is Margaret and Gelda have drifted due to both of their duties and that perhaps she remembers me as fondly as I remember her. I open the door, barely catching Jennah's expression of wide-eyed horror down the hall. With a heavy roll of my eyes, I step in, shutting the door behind me as I see Gelda is regally dressed in blue satin and standing by the window with her hands folded together in front of her lap. She looks to me, eyes welling and set in deep sorrow but in a blink, she looks more alarmed than anything else.

"Are you okay?" She questions, motioning to the tea and moving to pull a seat out before coming to me and with a soft hand on my shoulder, guided me to the table. It's as if she is hosting for me rather than the other way round. I sit, flushing before jolting into action and pouring us our cups, the steam pleasantly filling the air.

"Not at all," I answer, unable to muster a fake smile. "But, I understood from your letter that you need my help with something?" She situates herself at my side, looking to her cup before side-eyeing me as if debating even bringing whatever it was up. I peer down at myself wondering what about me is so strange. I'm always barefoot, my day dress is wrinkled from sleeping in it and seems a size too big but I figure it's from my utter absence of appetite. Even now as I look across the cheeses and snacks on the tray beside the teapot my tummy rolls.

The pretty vampire fiddles, tucking a loose strand of her blonde hair behind her ear and after a moment she clears her throat with a high pitched cough. In this time I prepare and sip my tea, no longer finding comfort in the liquid as it links me to the two people I've lost. Jelamet who started this habit and... Meliodas. Who I am not sure I ever really had in the first place. Even with our last encounter, I think he should have spoken to me about what I wanted before abolishing our arranged marriage.

Or, he realized exactly what he doesn't want- me. Scared, easily brought to hysterics. It's not like I'm fun to be around or regulate my emotions well. I find myself staring ahead, my cup to my lips, frozen as I breathe in the steam. I'm weak in every area that I value in a person and slowly my eyes fill as I think of the cruelty I unwittingly inflicted on him. I asked him not to hide himself and then when he was forced to protect me from those criminals and showed me who he really is, I pushed him away.

Of course, he'd reject me too.

"Ellie?" Gelda's soft lilt inquires as if talking to a sleepy babe and I blink away my tears in a rush, not used to hearing my childhood nickname from anyone other than my family. "We're in the same boat, I know I haven't been around much since I was a kid and that mostly I was here for Margaret but since we're to be family-"

"We won't be," I whisper, my eyes flash to hers, her expression one of confusion. "He called the whole thing off. But still, if I can help you, I will." Gelda shakes her head no, as if in denial.

"That's not how it works." She bites her lip, taking a cookie from the tray of food but simply pulling it apart as she sighs. "I know that for sure. No matter how much I fight with Zeldris or try to find a way out, there isn't one." This time, confusion colors my face. "You are the only person who will understand! He just keeps smelling me and following me around and overreacting to everything that comes in my path. My lady maid fixed my button and he... snapped her wrist for touching me." She shivers, and instantly I balk. "What?!" I ask, appalled as my arms plop to the table top in my shock.

"It was an accident, he just moved so fast. You should have seen his face, just as shocked and instantly apologetic, careful." She reaches for me and her palm touches over my forearm. I understand and she sees it in my eyes. "He didn't mean it, I know, but it's terrifying to think of him grabbing me in that way. He swears he cannot hurt me, that it would be like ripping out one of his own hearts but..." Gelda trails off and slowly my brain clicks on. "It's just, her horror and pain flashes in my mind when I'm sleeping through my day and when he touches me I can't help but be overwhelmed."

Gelda is confusing her matehood with what Meliodas and I had. I open my mouth to correct her but she's like a bubbling well, having started and unable to stop as if so relieved to finally confess. "He's everywhere. Says separation is torture for him this early and even getting this day away from him, scheduled in advance, took so much pleading. I am used to doing as I desire and with my father in full support of this, finally giving me a place among the royals, I feel trapped." Her eyes fill and her tears are pink as they fall down her cheeks, tinged with blood. Slowly her voice changes with her thickening emotions, "Zeldris is nice in small doses, so I was hoping that you would have a solution. How do you get Meliodas to keep his distance?"

My mouth opens and nothing comes. Her violet eyes shining, her brows furrowed and I don't want to hurt her when she seems to be crumbling. We stare, my own eyes filling as I see myself in her and I wince before I confess softly as if that will prevent the blow, "Lord Meliodas and I are not mates. He would have told me. Or someone would have." My mind flashes to the Vampire Ball where Zeldris found Gelda and after when I asked what would happen if he finds his mate once we've been married.

It's then though, that I think of the power, my dream and my reaction to Meliodas going full demon before me. A flicker of an old memory starts and I push it down as my heart races with its onset, my tummy flipping uncomfortably. My emotions spike, raw, and fear violently thrashes about inside. "Besides," I start, my voice wobbling. "Meliodas leaves me alone all the time. We'd go days, more than a week before seeing one another and..." I trail off. He would sniff me. "But he wouldn't touch me unless it was necessary, he was most careful not to." My head shakes from side to side in denial of nothing and everything with the motion.

"Oh!" Gelda's teacup clashes harshly into the saucer on the table, I can tell her hands are shaking from the noise as it rattles just like Jelamet's did in her later years. "Elizabeth, I didn't know you didn't know." Her voice is squeaky and I blink blankly as I turn my head at a snail's pace to meet her wide anxious eyes. "I mean, it's stupid to not tell you, to not know all that is at stake when making your decisions, and of course being mated is forever. I guess for them at least, that's why there is the guide for mates that don't have the same instincts." She's speaking but it's at a low hush, not really talking to me but more as if she's processing her thoughts out loud.

"Tell him you are scared or show him," I whisper, remembering how Meliodas reacted so softly to my emotions. I shake my head negatively again, denying it. "He's not my mate, he would have told me. He left me alone, he called off the marriage." Gelda's contemplativeness fades and she stills, unblinking as I grow unnerved with how her chest doesn't rise and fall from her lack of breathing. "It's different," I tell her, convincing myself. "He wants you to want him so show him how to win you over."

I stand, unsteady on my feet as the table jostles and Gelda seems to snap back alive. She apologizes, seeming to flush paler in her emotions and she takes my elbow as if I need assistance. I dip from the hold, thinking of Jelamet once more. "Ellie, yes. Thank you. I uh, well thank you for the tea, I know the way." She backs away, eyes moving down with her frown.

"Would you like to stay here for the night?" I offer, remembering she confessed to escaping to our palace when she needed a break from her own. "Margaret's rooms are always clean and ready, you can have some peace before going back home and to Zeldris." Her shoulders perk up, her dull eyes sparkling with life once more as she smiles at me as if I've answered her prayers.

"Some alone time will be much appreciated. Does she still have the shutters on her windows? I love her still for that, so we could spend the day together." Her shiny orbs mist over as I nod, finally acting the host as I usher her out. I notice then, as she bends to pick up a bag, that she must have packed for this just in case. I lead her down my hall and then to Margaret's rooms. "Whatever you want to be brought up, all you need to do is ask. I'll pop in and don't hesitate to do the same. I'm going to clean up a bit."

Gelda's eyes soften, her hand coming up to touch my shoulder as she silently breathes, "Thank you," before nodding and heading into my sister's rooms. I watch her stroll in and turn to the bedroom with her bag loosely hanging in her grip, her stroll slows as she takes a deep breath obviously relaxing in solitude. After her explosion of emotion earlier I'm sure she needs a recharge and isn't getting peace at home, not with Zeldris.

I ease the door closed so as not to disturb her and make my way to my own rooms with one focus. As soon as I'm in my hall I take off at a faster pace to wedge my bedroom door open and almost slam into my bedside table in my hurry. In a matter of moments I have, 'An Other Mate: A Demon Reference Guide', pulled from the stack, items scattering and a different book hits the floor that I have no regard for. With shaking fingers I pry it open, the spine cracking from lack of use indicating it must have been sent a while ago, maybe years ago. I'd opened this gift a few weeks ago and haven't thought about it since, having just shoved it with the other books waiting in line for me to get to.

Nerves bubble in my tummy as a piece of parchment is inside the front cover, Meliodas' handwriting in black is scrawled across it. I pull it free from the pinching of the spine and turn it right side up to read.

_**My Dear Elizabeth,  
I have studied this every day since we met and I know if I don't send this today I'll lose my nerve. I know it's scary, I endeavor to never frighten you again and I'm sorry about the instinctual reaction when I met you. How I wish I had any control over it back then, but I do now. I hope with everything I am that this book can clear things up or at least inform you of what is going on. If you have questions, I'd love to be the one to answer them. We can figure this out together, as soon as you're ready, I'll wait as long as you need.  
-Meliodas**_

My heart races, my head feels light and I plop heavily into a sit jolting when the bed's edge catches me on my descent. The note and book are gripped tightly in my hands but lower to my lap as I stare unblinkingly at my wall. "He would have told me," I speak, thinking back on all the opportunities he's had and how it would be so stupid to keep me in the dark. For him to treat me like my father does! But the darkness creeps and I turn to look at the missive I'd tossed across my room, he made choices for me, took away my options. He lied and manipulated, why wouldn't he keep this from me too?

Meliodas hid his very form from me until I pulled it out of him. We were to have no secrets left between us and I flush just thinking of what we would have gotten up to in the fairy forest if we hadn't been hunted down and interrupted by those criminals. Denial comes easier, thinking back to all the time we spent apart, how he barely touched me, and his kindness is just who he is. I flush, focusing on the book to get a better understanding of mates in general.

If nothing else my understanding might help Gelda.

I flip to the beginning but skipping the introductory chapter, noticing Meliodas' inked scrawl in the margins. '**Don't push her,'** and '**learn her languages'.** I blink at the note remembering the card he wrote on when we first met, when he had prepared questions. With a heavy sigh I turn to chapter two and start reading.

'_When demons find their mate it's an overwhelming experience for both demons, it takes days and sometimes weeks to pull them apart from the allure but when a demon is mated with another, not of their race, things can end badly, quickly.' _I shiver, that flickering image in my mind of yellow hair flapping chaotically in a dark swirling vortex and I'm reminded of my nightmare. I blink, trying to calm down as I read on.

'_What it is like for your mate when you awaken before her, with the power surge and the darkness surrounding her, depending on the race it can be very alarming.' _And beside the sentence is his scrawl, '**She's made of light.' **The novel text is clearly meant for a demon to read and I shiver as I know the answer as to why Meliodas' handwriting would be all over this book.

My chest closes up. I stand, dropping everything as I rush to my bathroom barely making it before I'm retching the little bit of tea I had managed with Gelda. I fumble for the bath knobs and start a scalding bath as I'm suddenly freezing. "No." I whisper, pulling at my hair as I rub at my eyes. Then my father's confession that I was his only bargaining chip after the war trickles into my awareness.

It wasn't an arranged marriage! He was allowing the mating if our clan was granted certain liberties. I feel sick again but as I gag nothing is left to come up. My people lost the war, we should have been dismantled for our lead role in opposition to the demons but... because of me? "No!" I say firmer, "I'm useless, I'm not anything. He canceled the whole thing."

On wobbling legs I stand, all but falling into the bath, still filling and wearing my dress. My head spins, my body shakes and the contrast of the heat against my chilled flesh shocks me into an open mouth gasp. With a thrashing wiggle, I pull my dress up, tossing it to slap wetly on my floor. Jelamet knew! A raw anger bubbles in me, it fizzles through my other emotions replacing them with a burning. "Everyone knew!" I shout, laying back to scream when my head sloshes under the water.

It dawns again, as I rise gasping for breath and splashing as I flip my hair from my face, that my life has never been mine. I've never made a single choice for myself. My life was determined since childhood and I've walked the path set before me with so little complaint. No longer! I shut off the water while furiously scrubbing myself down, taking breaks to scream into the suffocation when other realizations arose. Veronica's utter resentment of Meliodas without ever meeting him and Margaret's comments at the vampire ball about accepting the situation.

Why? Why leave me in the dark, but Meliodas especially?

I pull the plug, standing violently and making a mess of the bathroom one last time. I am a storm of determination as I find the missive of Meliodas calling off the engagement, shoving it into the 'Other Mate' book along with his note and tossing it to my mattress. In a rush, I toss what's important to me atop the bed as well. With my alter ego Liz in mind, I dress, packing clothes that are easy to move around in. With my pack stuffed with everything from my bed I put on shoes and head to my study with that stupid peacock cat.

I need the gold.

All of it.

I hide pieces in different pockets, filling a sack and tying it tight to shove into my bag as deep as I can force it so it doesn't jiggle. I look to the gifts Meliodas sent, then the little orb of amber with the flower in it. I have to travel light, I can't be sentimental. Besides, my current goal is to smack Meliodas into next week and none of these things aid me in my pursuit. I'm tying my hair back, giving a last glance around when I hear a door opening down the hall. I creep that way as a knock sounds.

"Miss Elizabeth, another guest has arrived," Zaneri calls into my room before pushing the door open with one hand, a plate of food in the other. I walk that way, wondering who would ever visit me? Gelda is here already. My mind wanders to Meliodas and I frown wondering if he's changed his mind or couldn't stay away. She looks nervous as she tucks her hair back and pushes her dress down before bending into my room.

"Who?" I ask, and she jumps, the plate jostling but she catches it before anything tumbles to the floor. When I reach her, I take the food, picking at it. She smiles, pleased before clearing her throat. "Prince Zeldris, he says he's looking for Lady Gelda but since this is your home he is calling on you. I set him up in the trophy room." Zaneri looks to my hair, then the pack on my back before I answer her unasked question. When she gives me a small smile in approval that fades as I list off food and supplies I need for my trip.

With the plate in hand, shoving my mouth full as I go, I head to Gelda first. I knock, going in when there is no answer. I smell the steam and I try to smile, knowing she's bathing. I debate whether or not to invade her peace but after so long of being kept in the dark myself, I can't knowingly do it to another. When I'm at the door I swallow the last of my bread and muffle out her name. The water sloshes within. "I just wanted you to know that Zeldris is here. I'm going to go see him but I can send him away so you can still have some peace."

Silence follows and I take a breath, fearing she hadn't heard and I'll have to repeat it. "Gelda?" I inquire as she sniffles and I frown knowing what she's feeling. "No, I'll see him, let me get myself together." I nod, slap my forehead because of course, she can't see that before calling out an affirmative. "You can take as long as you like. I understand. I need to speak to him anyway so I'll buy you some time." Her soft sobs continue and my rolling anger focuses on Zeldris, eyes already narrowing as I hike my sack up while making my way to the trophy room.

It's quiet, of course, the night had settled around us but with the streams of moonlight and lit sconces, it's aglow where I'm heading. Rather than turn toward the trophy room, I take a detour to my sister's sick room. I peek in, she's alone and propped up in bed with a book. She never reads and as she looks up with a bored expression drawn from the noise her eyes sparkle in life. I'm glad to see it and some of the anger curbs knowing she's okay.

With the door shut behind me, I go to her bedside, arranging her as I explain exactly what I'm going to do and exactly how sorry I am for this happening to her. She grips my hand, squeezing my fingers tight. "Take Griamore." But my shoulders sag as he's worse off than her. "Just because you are his mate doesn't mean he is yours. Do you know how rare it is for an _other_ to survive?" I don't, I haven't finished the guide book yet. Her fingers dig into mine and I hold in my wince as she pulls me in closer, "Promise me you won't let him hurt you."

"Of course," I breathe, tensing as I never thought he would. Even in full demon mode, his power swirling and tearing apart my sister, it hadn't touched me. My eyes widen before I kiss her forehead, pulling away after fixing her blankets and finally going to Zeldris, my uninvited guest. I try to process as fast as I can before reaching where he's waiting but I still feel like I'm standing on a crumbling foundation when I turn down the darker wing of the castle.

The portraits glint in the shadows and I'm glad I only have to go to the second door rather than down the darkened hall. I don't even consider knocking, just simply enter. The room is lit, a fire is going and the heads of animals look creepy with the flickering reflecting in their eyes. A sword, a powerful goddess relic is over the mantel and Zeldris turns from it due to the sound the door makes. A table is set with tea and snacks but it looks untouched.

"Do you want to start with Gelda or your dumbass brother?" I ask as I walk across the room. He stands up straighter, gazing over me with an open expression. "Do you want tea?" I motion to the table, reaching with a raised brow watching him from my peripheral vision.

"No. Tea is disgusting. I don't know a soul who enjoys it." I pause at his tone, giving him a double-take. He winces before amending, "I mean, no thank you, but I'll sit with you while you take yours." He inhales, seeming to hold it as he nears me but I don't care about his refusal or his snark.

"Meliodas doesn't like tea?" I turn from the tray, abandoning it as something to do with a scowl. One look at Zeldris' face, as if it is the stupidest question with the most obvious answer, and I let a long string of curses flow from my lips. Of course Meliodas was withholding about that too, yet my anger burns quick as I wonder if he endured because I'm most likely his mate. That he didn't care what we did as long as he got to see me.

I shove the thought away, liking my anger more than the edging softness and I'm quick to shut it down before this particular 'infection' spreads. Zeldris speaks, in awe, "I never would have thought you knew such an array of naughty words, nor that you would ever use them. I don't even know what a zounderkite is." I look Zeldris over, his dark slacks and button-up reminding me of Meliodas and when I meet his eyes I hate that his green has flecks of gold too. I point to the chair, raising my brow but I'm not surprised when he gives me a startled look before following my direction.

"Listen," I start. "I'm leaving this godforsaken castle tonight and if I can help it, I am never coming back." His lips tighten, fading paler as he truly focuses on me. "So I'm going to help you before I go. Gelda isn't a demon. She doesn't want you nor love you." His eyes darken, "and if you want her too, which you do..." I frown, hating that pricks of tears start at the back of my eyes, "learn her languages."

My mind swirls around the possibility that Meliodas, in his hyper-awareness of my emotions cut his own instincts down to nothing in order to give me room. Is part of this my fault? I clench my fists before refocusing on Zeldris. If Meliodas would have just spoken to me about any of this beforehand it would have unfolded differently. "It's intense for you, well, I hear it is in the beginning but this is earth-shaking for her too. Give her some time, ask her what she needs. She's always put up a strong show, hates showing anyone how she feels, it's mostly because of her father and the courts but you have to pick up on the little hints like I had to with-" I shake my head, my eyes closing. "Have you read the 'Other Mate' book?"

"I'm reading it now, I didn't know I'd... well I didn't pick this either." His voice is soft, his tone an apologetic one but his words are steady. I don't know him well enough but I still guess that this is about as open as he gets. I nod, looking at my chair but deciding I'm not staying long enough to get comfy. "Where are you going?"

"To slap your stupid brother in his stupid face," I mutter and his laugh fills the room drawing my gaze. His head is tipped back and his eyes crinkling but it trickles off harshly. With a seriousness I haven't seen from him he stares into me. "He left, at first I thought it was a tantrum but he, he relinquished his position. I'm heir to the throne and current Lord of the Demon lands." In a rush I sit, folding my fingers before me as he tells me everything he knows, where he might be and offers to help. "You are family, Elizabeth. I know he would kill me before killing himself if anything happens to you, so let me come with you."

I sigh, closing my eyes. I'd planned on going to Mead but with me intending on relinquishing my own title to escape here I wasn't sure if I can guarantee his siblings a place to safely stay while we are away. Mead found Meliodas last time, underground fighting rings and all, and snuck into the demon kingdom to hand deliver my letter. Then an idea sparks. "Do you have transportation?" His eyes narrow. "As family, seeing as I just found out I'm your brother's mate, I need a big favor." After I explain, his eyebrow quirks and his smirk comes quick as if his mind is whirring with options.

"What do I get from the deal?" He asks, a tad cocky but also curious. The door clicks and he stands at attention, fidgeting with his shirt before I look to see a beautiful and well put together Gelda stroll over, self-assured. "A happier mate," Gelda answers his question and when she stops beside our table she reaches for me. Our hands clasp softly as she speaks to me, "Thank you for your kindness this day." My smile is watery and I stand, offering her my seat.

When she steps to it, our hands separate and she smiles so softly at the tray. "Would you like some tea with me, Lord Zeldris? It seems we have much to talk about." He agrees, eagerly and I snort, giving him a side-eye that he meets guardedly as if fearing I'll out him. Stupid demon men. I roll my eyes as he clears his throat. "I'll gladly assist your escape. Please be careful and please find him before he... before he does something even more stupid than he already has." I try to smile, saying my goodbyes.

My father is furious. He's heard by the time I make it to the kitchens and gather my sack of food but I give him not a glance as I make my way out of the castle. "I won't allow you to chase after that monster!" He bellows as I head to the gates.

"I relinquish my title, I'm an adult. Unless I'm charged with a crime there is no way for you to hold me against my will a moment longer." My father is appalled, but as I cross to the other side of the gates he resigns himself, looking to the guard that drops down. "She's well within her rights, I've bound her too long. Give her a manta." I don't have time to say a word as he spins on his heels with a howl, bounding up to the castle in a rage. Still, I'm grateful and when I reach Mead the kids are absolutely thrilled to be invited to a completely different kingdom. Their packs are spilling over with seemingly everything they own and at the castle Jennah and Zaneri take them to Zeldris.

Mead is quick to outline the base rules of the outside world as we mount the Sky Manta. "I'm in charge here, Ellie. This is my domain, but I am thrilled to finally take you on an adventure." Mead is all toothy grins and although I try to match it, I can't bring myself to in spite of the fluttering excitement in my tummy.


	15. Chapter 15: Savior

**Chapter 15: Savior**

The Manta sways under us, our backs pressed together and the blankets tucked around us because it's cold up over the clouds. My eyes strain to read the text by the moonlight alone but I need to figure this out. We have been to the demon clan, tracked and asked around and our biggest lead involves Ban, so we are on our way to his last known location.

Our food sack is half full, the both of us eating lightly to preserve it and so far we've needed very little of my gold. Mead knows his way around people and as he snores behind me I glance over with a smile, glad to have him here. Alone I'd have been lost, literally and figuratively. With a deep breath, I refocus on the book. The more I read the more I doubt I am Meliodas' mate. He's not bitten me to mark me, he's never left his scent on me, although I guess I can't know that for sure. But in the margins he wrote, '**she smells like summer breeze'**. Which is neither here nor there as I don't know how I smell.

I turn the page, instead, looking out at the vast expanse of clouds that cover the world as if it has the answers. Was Meliodas so in control of his instincts that he resisted the book's claimed 'overprotectiveness' and the 'overwhelming attraction'? This text made it seem so hard for a demon to resist all that it warns about, yet warn it does. Every few sentences are deep cautions on just how wrong it can go if a mate outside the demon species is pushed and with Meliodas' notes I wonder if those were enough for him to contain himself.

A note I can't shake was one written beside the section on '_the jarring experience of when your inner demon is unleashed to bring a mate to submission,_' said, '**I won't risk her life for my own desires'**. Is that thought enough for Meliodas to deny himself? With how over-cautious this author is and how devastating he makes the guessed at consequences seem through the text, maybe Meliodas took it dead-serious. Of course, when the book outlined how demon mates fight for dominance, that one must be the alpha, that alone is terrifying but the section after is all about how difficult it is for a demon to let that instinct go.

My mind scatters as I wonder if that's why he fights, why he seems to enjoy taking a beating. That he has outlets for what his inner demon wants, things that I can't give him. _If,_ my tears brim_, if _I am his mate. I both wish I am, as then I will know our true standing, but don't as all I'm truly learning from this book is how ill-fitting I am for him. After each chapter, where my anger fades from my own sympathy, I have to read the missive of him abandoning me to spike my rage once more.

I list off his lies, his withholdings and his lack of including me in my own life decisions before I go on reading. We have a long flight ahead of us and I rub at my eyes to stay awake. I start the next chapter, frowning as it lists the possible demon coping mechanisms to assist in conquering their beast's drive to claim before their 'other' mate is ready. '**The fear of killing her by my own hand is enough.'** I bite my lip, skipping reading the rest of the suggestions to see, '**She's gentle by nature'**, and when I turn the page a slip of paper is inside with a rigorous training schedule outlined.

I read on with a heavy heart, growing used to the feeling of carrying so much. Maybe this is why he didn't want to tell me. '_It is imperative you always listen to your 'other' mate's body language for any discomfort. Our instinct drives us forward but they do not have that same urge. It's beautiful when you come to appreciate it, that every touch is earned, every smile a gift given as it is not manufactured by deep magic of fate but pulled forth from your efforts.'_

I hadn't thought of it like that. The chapter ends with more warnings but I zero in as the author shares something personal I've not seen them do before. '_I am sure if you are reading this that you know of the story that follows my name. It's true, and I want to prevent anyone from going through the hell I've created for myself. If your mate ever expresses discomfort, listen- they are facing a foreign beast when they trust you, do not let her or him down.'_

Being unfamiliar with demon legends and stories I have no reference to what he is hinting at, but thus far I can guess that something horrible happened to his mate. That he must be a demon and she must have not been. I frown, sticking the missive in as my bookmark to turn to the cover. 'Gowther the Selfless' penned this and I wonder if he forced himself on her or hurt her, that maybe him helping others in a similar situation allowed him to come to terms with whatever occurred.

I put my things away, making sure they are secure before snuggling down into the blankets myself and finding unrestful sleep worrying about our course while the beast is unmanned.

Our day starts early when we make it too late to the fighting tournament, being told by the man in charge that of the people we were looking for, only Ban showed up, no Captain. We tracked our way to their hotel and from there get another lead that only costs us a few coins.

We agree that Ban is the most likely one to know where Meliodas has gone. Even if he wasn't told directly, he'd have some ideas. With nothing else to go on, it's all I have to hope for. That night I pay for us both to have a hot meal and a real bed. We bathe, separately of course, and while Mead takes off to 'see what the town has to offer', I snuggle into the mattress with my book to try and make headway.

'_This undertaking is the greatest challenge you'll face, but if done correctly the rewards will be ever-giving. On the other side of that coin, just one mistake, an unforgivable mistake... it will cost you everything, all your progress and depending on the severity, your mate entirely.' _I scoff at the dramatic turn in this chapter, wondering if Meliodas really soaked this up as readily as his notes suggest. He wouldn't take notes if he didn't take this seriously, right? Yet, in our situation, doesn't he think his mistake is terrifying me, is that enough for him to think the damage is irreparable? I read on, hating that my anger is a low rumble when I need it to drive me on.

'_Let her lead. If your mate initiates contact, our instinct is to claim where she may have only intended to give affection. Depending on their understanding of sex it could be even purer than that- a want of a connection and if you've made it this far I envy you. To feel what it's like to be wanted in return must be marvelous.'_ The time I smelled him in my bed comes to mind and I know now that when his eyes go dark that it's his beast awakening. He wouldn't look at me, so afraid to scare me but what if it was this too, that he didn't want to tempt his demon into claiming me.

Meliodas' notes give me more insight. It explains his blank faces and tight formality. I like to believe he was himself some of the time, like when he was Captain but as I fall asleep I wonder if it really was such a good idea for him to read this book. He's made some bad choices. I think he closed off almost completely to the point I still have a hard time believing I am his mate as he seems to have never let his instinctual inner beast do anything it should have wanted to.

My throat tenses and I wish again, just before sleep takes me, that Jelamet was still here to shake some sense into me. I have ached for so long. Since as far back as I can remember there has been an emptiness inside, but since she died and Meliodas left, nothing makes it ease. Not tea, not sleep, not warm baths or talking with Mead. The things I love are slipping through my fingers and tears leak long into my unconsciousness.

Dreams are fleeting, ill remembered but Meliodas' words, so absentmindedly spoken to his brother at the vampire ball float in my mind. It's the only thing I hold onto as I wake. Heavens Theatre. It's an underground fighting destination that he frequents, one that lets anything happen if there is enough money involved. He told his brother that, flippantly. The sun is peeking over the trees, just barely lighting the room as I rush from it in my pajamas almost colliding with a poor maid as she carries sheets down the hall.

After a quick apology and shared smiles, I rush to the doorframe next to mine. Mead's room is locked and I rattle the knob, calling out to him before knocking. "I have a lead!" I rush, I grow louder, knocking and knocking until finally, I call out, "Mead!" The door behind me bursts open, causing me to flinch.

"I'm all for drinking this early, but for fuck's sake, keep it down." The voice is gruff with sleep and slowly I turn, wide-eyed as I recognize who is here. His red eyes are round when they meet mine and my mouth gapes. "Liz?" He asks, "Shit, we were talking about finding you last night. Cap'n is losing his shit, said you two broke up and he's... strung out. Said it was all his fault, regrets everything." Ban pushes his hair back, making the spikes stand taller as he winces. "What the fuck happened?"

I step to the middle of the hall, my mind reeling but we had come here in hopes of catching them. "I don't really know." I want to ask Meliodas himself, to talk to him about all this so I know for sure. It's one of the main reasons I'm hunting him down.

Ban's head tilts, his eyes narrowing. "I was being polite. He pretty much hiccuped his way through telling me, I'm pretty sure, as he was hard to understand, that he killed your sister?" His voice rises at the end and I still.

"No! She lived, she was close but I managed to save her." I rush, as if Ban hearing it that much sooner will help. I don't want him to think such thoughts about Meliodas anyways. "I'm trying to find him, when did you talk to him? Where?" Ban's face eases, his eyes losing a harsh glint and he leans back against his door. He calls over his shoulder, "What was that bar called? Near Danafor."

A moment passes before Elaine, wrapped in a blanket with little bare shoulders poking from the edge comes over as if this is usual. She reaches, gripping my hand in her tiny fist with a careful situating of her coverings before giving a detailed rundown of what Meliodas was doing. "It was two days ago, he can get pretty far if he wants to but with how sloshed he was, it seemed like he would be staying awhile." I thank her, half crying as I give her a hug.

"I'm going to go get him." I rush, turning but only getting two steps before I do an about-face and ask, "and, where is Heavens Theater, just in case this lead doesn't pan out?" Ban straightens, getting even more impossibly tall, his face flushing paler while Elaine's little brows crinkles, looking to her man with confused curiosity. Ban shakes his head no, rubbing at his eyes.

"He'll kill me," he mutters before he stretches his shoulders back as if uncomfortable and he looks to Elaine. "I'll take her for him, but I won't risk you." Ban focuses on me again, "Just us, alright?" Ban is serious and my brows furrow. I'm just about to agree but Elaine elbows him hard in the tummy. "You can just fuck off! I'm going. I can take care of myself and Captain is my friend too you stupid oaf! You can't leave me here!"

"Ugh!" He exhales heavily, "It's a floating stage full of the vilest, roughest-" Elaine's finger points, her eyes narrowing as she all but forces him in the room. "We'll meet you downstairs in an hour," she gruffs to me before the door slams and I wince, looking to Mead's door with apprehension. He's not going to like being left behind either.

I try when he finally and groggily answers the door. After, I pack and go down to the common area, where Mead is already waiting with his things and an aggressive face. He's met Ban before when he found Meliodas for me but he is distrustful. "I got us food," he quips tightly, lips thin and it's then that a burly man bumbles over with cooked oats and fruit when I take my seat beside him. Mead's mad, I know it as we eat in silence but still, I find this loud and sticky place next to an angry friend while eating tasteless food a thousand times better than my empty dining hall.

Well, it's no longer mine. I have nothing.

I frown, wondering if Margaret will have room in the temples for me. I'm sure she will. The rest of my life plan can wait though, as I need to find my ex-fiancé first. The book secured in my bag is giving me so much insight into the things I didn't know and the last few chapters are circling around the author's experience. I nibble as I peek to Mead but he's glaring across the room.

I follow his gaze to find Ban, who is equally miffed, Elaine is smug at his side and they both have bags. "I see you were successful in 'going alone' too." It's not a question and heavy in sarcasm, but I nod to him as he folds his lanky form into the chair across from me. Elaine laughs, waving to the barkeep for two more bowls of what we have. "I don't care if it's dangerous, if Liz goes, I go," the fairy declares.

"I was going to say the same thing," Mead settles, looking just as sure of himself and I frown, suddenly losing my appetite. "How dangerous, though?" I whisper, peering through my lashes for just a moment to catch Ban's severe expression. It must be bad. My worries circle about what Meliodas might be up to there, and how I can convince Mead not to go. I begged him to take me along at the start, so this reversal is strange. "Let's follow up where they saw Meliodas last, then we'll know if Heaven's Theater is even needed." I try to balm over the tension with my words.

The group of us seems to mellow some, Mead and Elaine about coming with us and Ban and I with possibly not needing to go to such a harsh place. Their food comes and we finish together while talking about Ban and Elaine's original plan to hunt down Zeldris and find me. "He was rough, he needed someone with more pull and strength than me to get him out. I had to leave him but I wasn't abandoning him. Not when all the usual things didn't help." I wonder what the usual things are but the conversation evolves with Elaine asking me about what I plan to do when I see him. I don't sugar coat, "I'll punch him in his stupid face," and while she looks shocked, Ban laughs.

They join us on our Manta when we whistle for it to return as they had been traveling by hitchhiking in wagons mostly. We mount and Ban takes the reigns with Elaine curled in his lap. There is less room with four people but I settle back to back with Mead as he nods off on my shoulder and I pull the book out once more as we have another ride before us.

I part the pages, moving the missive acting as my bookmark to the back of the book. After all the dark undertones shining through in the author's warnings I want to know what happened to the couple. Something bad, I gather, but I want the details. It almost feels like the most important part of the story, outside of the notes Meliodas writes but those are important in another way.

I shake my head, beginning from where I left off.

'_A world without her is empty of color. I hadn't realized how perfect she was, instead focusing on what I had thought were 'deficiencies'. I had been given a gift, to cherish and cultivate, but in my greed I squandered it. She was all the beauty the world had to offer and I found her lacking in my immaturity. This is my warning to you... without her, I cannot face another day. This book is coming to an end and I can die well knowing I've done all I can to prevent the same curse befalling another. To have your mate die at your own hand... I cannot endure, all the hope in this world has gone with her. The only comfort I have left is the thought that she may be in the next world, waiting for me. My only drive is to see her again.'_

The book finishes with recapping the most important parts, ink marks underlining some as if, assumedly, Meliodas found them worthy of extra accentuating. I feel a bit unfulfilled though, as I want the details. This guy's mate died at his hands, presumably because of his instincts, and it must have been really bad with how this guy outlines his mistakes. Everything I've learned recently explains so much but the angry winds in my sails blow ever onward as this book doesn't excuse Meliodas for his personal choices.

I'm not so fragile that I had to be left out of everything! I look around gently so as not to disturb Mead and a yearning returns that I have been trying to ignore and deny. I wish I were traveling with Meliodas. I frown, scowling at the tail of the sky manta. Or, the version of Meliodas that I knew. I hate that I am not sure I know him at all.

Yet, I see the freedom this grants. All signs point to me being his mate. He left his kingdom and title behind and not long after, I had my own. I hated that we were arranged because it was a decision I hadn't made myself, then I hated that it was absolved for the same reasons. Now, we are untethered to our obligations, we could... start over.

Then I look to the novel in my grip. Unless Meliodas thinks there is no chance. Ban said he thinks he killed Veronica, I panicked in the face of him and his power and said some very harsh things that I'm not sure I mean anymore. Some of them I do, he is an idiot, but this isn't unsalvageable. This book is clearly a suicide note by the author and my tummy grips tight as I fear Meliodas might take that route too. Didn't Zeldris even reference it?

"He wouldn't," I whisper to the wind, but I'm so unsure of who or what version of Meliodas I know that I can't even convince myself of its truth. Yet, my feelings towards him are strong. Mostly it's anger, but it's a burning bubble of mad that I'm not able to muster for another. Then my worry, a never-ending crashing of fears that recede and return like waves of lapping, foaming concern. The sorrow, cold and deep, a drop of water on a still mirror of a black lake that ripples so loud it echoes in my hollowness. The depths I'm able to feel means something, I'm sure of it.

I've been a void for so long. Something has broken, a dam and I'm not sure if it was Jelamet's passing or Meliodas' actions. I'm not even sure it matters. These are the pieces of my life and I'll be damned if I don't at least try to fix them. If nothing else comes from this, other than Meliodas knowing I am okay, that my sister is okay and we part ways amicably, than that will be acceptable too.

We travel on and rotate shifts, my hair is a tangled mess until Elaine braids it down my back with a ribbon, where I return the favor. We eat bread and cheese, nap periodically and finally arrive with a very tired beast. The lot of us don't waste time in town, heading for the inn. Ban and Elaine go to the barkeep, seeming to know him, while Mead and I intercept the matron.

She's tallying up for the night, her apron messy and her hair pulled back tight. "One room or two?" She asks, bored but with a flash of a smile. "Two." I reply before I shake my head, "but I want to know about a short blonde man that was here a while ago." Her tallying pauses, her eyes narrowing in suspicion and I look to Mead in fear.

"She's his wife. Skipped out, baby on the way. I think he's just nervous about all the changes." Mead starts and I flinch, my face burning as my mouth opens and closes uselessly. "Said he'd be back weeks ago." Slowly the woman's shoulders ease and she exhales heavily before looking back over her shoulder at the belly heavy Barman talking to our friends.

"I've chased me own down a time or two." She swipes up the coins from the counter and they plop into a sack she stashes under her apron out of sight before turning around. "I'd offer a drink but ye' expecting." The woman pours one for herself as she talks, "Little guy but real strong? Dark eyes?" I nod and she shakes her head like it's a lost cause. "Left two days ago. Drank all his coin away, not 'at I mind tha'." After a long pitying look she turns from me with a frown.

"Know where he's going?" Mead quips, eyeing the bottles behind the woman. He gives me a side-eye but I don't have time to reply as the woman snorts throatily.

"Said 'e needed a beatin', that the drink wasn't workin' no more." I warily look to the back of the Matron's head, "Never thought someone would have a problem drink can't fix." Her shoulders rise and fall, downing the last of her own. It's then that Ban and Elaine join us and Ban takes the lead in arranging our night's stay, claiming being too tired to go on but wanting to ask around town before moving on. I pay for the rooms and the food, after we walk the town, asking after Captain.

We retire for the night after I learn he's been here for over a week, sloshed and sleeping in the streets but always had gold to soothe anyone's gripes about him. As I bathe and dress in my pajamas I grow morose that so many looked so surprised that anyone was looking for him. The baker even condemned him as, "that no good vagrant." Something had happened then, a surge of protectiveness had reared and I'm still a little rattled with my reaction.

Why am I doing this?

He hurt me. More than anyone in my life. He left me at the worst time with Jelamet's passing, which I don't think he knows about and I know he had his reasons for. Mainly my panicked demands of it. Yet, with all my own feelings I find myself worrying about his mental health. To be drunk for days and days in a row. I shiver, thinking again of the author having taken his own life to be with his mate. I have to find him before he gets a stupid notion in his head that dying is a good idea. With a heavy heart, I pull the book out again, just to read the original note he sent along. At the start, he had wanted to talk to me about this.

What changed? How can he go from, '_**If you have questions, I'd love to be the one to answer them. We can figure this out together.**_' to hiding everything, even how he feels? His blank face comes to mind and I scowl as I shove the book in my pack once more. The urge to tear it up is there but I know it's too important, the leather too rich and the pages too thick. Besides, to do such a thing to a book...

A soft knock sounds on my door and I turn, anxious until a slip of parchment slides under my door. I watch as the shadows through the crack above the floor goes and I gather the note. The words send a chill down my spine, but I abide, doing as it asks. I work silently, watching the sliver of a moon move across the sky with my muscles vibrating. When the world is quiet, I creep from my room and slip from the tavern into the cool air of the night. I hike up my sack and move quickly.

He's there, already waiting. In a broad sweep of his arm, he indicates I should hurry and I do. "Hood up!" He whispers rough, "Tuck all the hair back. I need you to be a mystery so as not to draw the eye." I rush to do as he bid, keeping up when he stalks forward, just under a jog. "Gold, 10 pieces." He demands, holding out his palm and I pluck the easiest ones from the inside of my dark cloak. As he asked, half of my coin is in my side pouch ready to be pulled.

In less than fifteen minutes after I passed him what he asked for we dip toward a tavern. We don't go in, instead, we walk along the side until we bend around the back. Another person is there and Ban reaches out, pulling me into his side as if we were a couple. "Cap'n come this way?" He asks and the man in all black looks our way, his shaggy brown curls bounce with the move around his roughed up face. He has a fading purple bruise under his eye. "Ah, must've." Ban laughs when the wounded man scowls.

"Who's this?" He demands. His hand rises to point to me and I try not to tense up as Ban tucks me close, almost shoving my face into his chest. He smells like flowers and I wonder if it's Elaine's scent that clings to him. "No one you need know. We got the toll." He holds out his other palm with the glinting gold in the moonlight. "Both of us." He reiterates and the man scowls, snapping his fingers. The gold vanishes from his hand and I flinch, realizing it was actually us that disappeared. We were in the black void and I'm reminded of being teleported to and from the vampire's territory.

I didn't have time to panic as stone forms underfoot and a crowd is before us. We are in the sky, I can tell from the clouds floating and misting around us. Old statues of goddesses in armor line the edge of the round platform which seems to have broken off from a larger part as the one side is jagged. It's set up like a coliseum, the seats and stairs all leading down to the center stage, which I can hardly make out. "Shite." Ban hisses as it sounds like raw meat slaps rock before a roar of cheers erupts before us.

He takes me by the arm, pulling me through the crowd and down the stairs as a roar sounds, one familiar to me. My heart races anew. "Again!" The voice is gravelly and rough, "Again, quick- before I lose the scent of her." I shiver, goosebumps rising and trailing down my back. He can smell me? I peer round Ban walking before me as we head down the steps, tip-toeing quick and trying to hide under the hood while looking. The beast Meliodas is 'fighting' a small oval headed demon floating with nubbed limbs but he moves lightning fast as he blinks from existence and that slapping of meat sound echoes around until the cheers start.

The nearer we come, the more I can make out. Meliodas is hurt, more than I've ever seen. Shredded flesh and blood around the arena. His clothes are gone, all but the dirty pants now haphazardly torn into shorts. I wince, Ban gripping me tighter as we level out on the platform that spans in a circle around the stage.

"Oi! Oi!" A commanding voice calls out to us, out of breath. "Spectators ain't allowed 'ere, no' unless you got the coin for a go 'round." I turn but Ban spins and steps before me. I feel silly as I inch to look around his side at the round short man with the thin mustache making his demands. "Who's next?" Ban interrupts and the man stands taller, lips thinning and turning white before my friend bends down to clang my pocket pouch of gold before the man's face. "Cause I think it's my friend here next up, we're just making the transition easier by lining up."

How did Ban get that? I didn't even feel him snatch it! I even check my hip and even though I see it before me I'm surprised to find my gold pouch missing from where I last left it.

The man, apparently in charge is quick to scoop up the bag, his other grubby hand rubbing over his lips before he nods. "Yessir, right. You're next. When the bell rings that's a thirty-second warnin'." He points to me before indicating where we need to wait, walking as he talks to himself. "Lots of 'em want a go at Cap'n, they owes 'im the hurts, waitin' another round won't kill 'em." His limp is apparent but the stains down his backside are more so.

"Come on." Ban is more gentle as he touches my back and we go to the broken section of the waist high railing that circles most of the stage. A toothless man guards it and he holds his hand out to stop us as he looks to the round man we paid. He seems to get an affirmative but whatever silent communication they have, I didn't notice it. The bell rings and he snorts. "Which of ya is going in?" He asks and I raise my hand unsure exactly what I plan to do when in there. "No cloaks." The guy backs up and wiggles his rear on the edge of the crumbling stone rail as if letting me pass.

Ban tugs at my bag and I don't fight him, shedding it and then my cloak. The guard whistles low. "Dream on, asshat. She's way out of your league," Ban condemns as whispers start behind me and I barely turn to look over my shoulder to see the spectators and men pointing. It's then that the oval demon finishes, his form gliding our way and Ban pushes me toward the arena. I shake off the sense of danger as I silently descend the few steps to pass the demon who would be the last to rough up Meliodas.

The stage is stained, cracked and I step up to it. I quickly forget about the chaos of people left behind as I focus on the reason I'm here. I finally found him, _and he looks horrible_. Something soft and warm bubbles in my chest and I feel full inside. He's on his knees, face to the sky and eyes closed. I try to see as I near if he can't open them or if he's refusing to look. He seems almost peaceful, swaying from side to side slightly as if rocking himself and breathing the air in with heavy gasps. He's bleeding from the ear, his skin is riddled with scuffs, wounds, and holes. I'm not sure where to look as there are so many lacerations for me to knit up.

"This is enough," he mutters. I frown, not following and worrying if he has a brain bleed or a severe concussion. With how he looks I wouldn't be surprised. Shouts come from those around us but I don't register what specifically they are upset about as I step ever nearer. I close the gap between us and with him before me, seeming to be waiting with his eyes closed, it reminds me of our first kiss. The side of his face is puffy and I reach out.

Tears prick at my eyes, my hand shakes and my power rises easily. With a gentle caress down the side of his least roughed up cheek I spread healing into him, easing him. His lips part, the cut down his bottom lip sealing mid gasp and as the last of his wounds knit closed he opens his eyes, amazed and in awe. He's okay. I release a heavy breath and the crowd is going crazy with roars of outrage, hollers and howls, deep and vicious.

"Elizabeth?" he whispers, as if he's dreaming. It's then though, as I do another glance over to make sure he's better, his shredded shorts coated in old blood, that I rear back. My anger bubbles forth, joining the warmth in my chest and I slap him as hard as I can across his face. He shifts with the move, head off to the side as I curse with my jolt of pain, "Ouch!" I wince, gripping my palm in my other hand as I shake it and massage it as numbing tingles overcome the shock.

I hiss in a breath, holding my hurt hand to my chest as I glare at Meliodas. "You are an idiot!" I shout, tears trailing down my cheeks and I despise I still can't hold it together long enough to get my point across. "You didn't tell me anything!" I warble, my voice shaking. Slowly his head hangs, knees inching forward and his hands rise as if offering something but I don't understand what. "It would have been so much easier to understand what was happening from my nightmares and I would have handled seeing you in that power vortex much better if I knew beforehand!"

The fingers of his left hand graze along my hurt palm and I let him take it, his hold so delicate my tears rise anew and my chest squeezes tighter. "I feel like you were tricking me! Looking back it was all too good to be true, and I can't believe you kept me in the dark about something so important! That you took away my choices." I choke and his light grip tightens fractionally over my hand as he flips it over to assess the damage. I pull it free and he sags further, almost in a bow, kneeling before me.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, his fist clenched as they tap to the stones under my feet. I snort but the raw feeling roaring in my tummy slows and the warmth pulses to take over and soothe. Angrily I swipe at my tears, my own fists forming and my arms tense down straight by my side, my hurt fist less tense. "You should have talked to me!"

Slowly he looks up, eyes flashing to mine dark and lost. "I was afraid." He speaks precisely and my stomach drops as he's expressive, truly letting me see him and I know this is the first time he's ever let his guard down. Not when he shifted to his demon form nor when we had our rare moments of truly being alone, he's finally himself and I'm shocked I can see myself in his gaze. Tears fill his eyes as I see the depth of the hole inside that my power can't heal, it matched my own and he drops his head as if shamed.

"Look at me," I whisper, shaking in my tension as I realize I usually request the opposite and I know, deep down, this is partly my fault. Maybe even mostly. He does what I request. "We are broken," I tell him, his eyes fathomless and dulling as streams of tears track down his face, shining in the moonlight. I reach, cupping his cheeks to wipe them away as I bend. "But nothing is unmendable," I whisper, pulling his head forward as I drop to my knees to match him all the more.

For a breath, he doesn't respond as I wrap him up, feeling like I'm finally home. I've not had one in many years and the feeling is foreign to me but somehow I've missed it. I hear his deep inhale, sniffing me as his nose wiggles deeper into my neck as he finally moves and more tears pinch out as my eyes squeeze closed. "So, I'm really yours?" I ask, barely above a whisper and his arms circle my waist, trapping me in the best way, as I feel safe.

"I tried... but you've never been mine," he croaks, his arms locking tighter as if he won't let me go. I relax against him, my own arms clutching tighter as I try to process this. It conflicts with everything I've heard and read. I thought I was his mate! "But I've been yours for years and years." A sob bubbles and bursts from between my lips as I nuzzle into his hair, his hand rubbing my back in comfort as I fist his hair to keep us together. "I killed your sister. How can you stand the sight of me, let alone gift me with any affection."

With many sniffles, I lean away, my head already shaking in denial. "I saved her," I tell him and he tenses, eyes stark as they look into mine mere inches away, he retorts. "But I watched the funeral pyres. I couldn't leave you without seeing you home safe and within the day the castle dropped its flags and..." My eyes fill and he stops as my sorrow bubbles once more and he knows. I can see when his mind makes the connection and I crumple, breaking while finally feeling my loss, feeling that I can with his arms here to hold me together. "Oh, Elizabeth," he grouses and I shake as I bury closer into him.

"I gave up my title," I warble, "I can't go back there. I want my own life." I cling as he shifts me to the side and I feel a whoosh of wind where I was seconds ago. "My father allowed me a sky manta and I took Mead in my search for you." His arm scoops me closer as he stands, his other falling away but I'm tucked close, talking into his hair. "Gelda visited, she told me about us and Zeldris followed. He has all Mead's siblings. I'm pretty sure they are moving to the Demon kingdom. A family of goddesses migrating!" I shiver as something cold splatters up my leg and his chest rumbles before Meliodas bounds up at top speed. I cling for a completely different reason as he dips and dodges, climbing the stands in a jolt with me in his arms, before jumping off the edge of the floating stage in the few seconds it took to reach it.

I only catch glimpses of angry faces, statues and blurring movements as he manhandles me. "Ban!" I shout, realizing too late just how upset I made everyone when stopping Meliodas' beating. No wonder Ban didn't want Elaine to come, especially if he had any inkling of what was happening here. Meliodas' wings sprout, his other arm securing me as he flies.

"He's out," Meliodas tells me, and I trust him, tucking closer as the air is cooler. I don't bother with my own wings as I continue my tale after telling Meliodas where I'm staying. "Father is furious with me, but I had to find you, I read that book and I realized so many things!" Then a spark of anger flares as he shifts our direction and I smack at his back with my sore hand. "You don't like tea!" He chuckles, reluctantly but I curl back up around him. "I think that book is mostly stupid!"' I declare. "If I had known I would have warmed much quicker!" His head shakes as if I'm silly and his speed kicks up, the air colder and louder so I refrain from talking but I kiss the side of his head and his chest rumbles softly while his head tilts nearer to my own.

Ban's already in front of our inn when we arrive and he hands over my cloak and bag. Meliodas doesn't let our bodies part as I grab my cloak and he takes my pack. "Close one, eh?" Ban chuckles, looking back over his shoulder. "I got a fifty percent chance of Elaine having not noticed. Wish me luck." He winks as he turns in, the door creaking as he dips into the tavern.

I lead Meliodas to my room and for the first time, I understand what Gelda must have been complaining about as he still refuses to part his skin from mine even when maneuvering the thin stairs. It's only a moment before we are silently in my paid-for room. "Are you tired?" I ask, knowing he must be and he stares into me before I flush looking at the single twin bed in the tiny room. "We only have one blanket this time." He nods, dropping his touch and my bag before stepping back as if understanding, but he doesn't. "No," I close the gap between us, grabbing his bicep. "We can share it. Let me see if I have anything that will fit you."

He's easy to guide as I move him to have a seat on the bed and I smile to him as I start digging into my sack while dropping my cloak beside it. "You are too good, Elizabeth," he whispers. "I wish I could fix the world for you." I pause, shaking my head as I look to him with a confused grin but his face is bleak. "I wish I were good enough." A hushed quiet surrounds us as I pull out a pair of pants with a drawstring at the waist. I offer it to him and he stands, turning his back to me while removing his blood-stained shreds of fabric still clinging around his waist. I spin, a little too late as I do spot the muscled indents in his rear before I grant him his privacy.

"I think you are. Well, I'd like to get to know you, to start over," I whisper to the shadowed, cobwebbed corner of this worn room. "We can start fresh, I'm free now. I can stay with Margaret at the temple, we can date for real, ignore all the obligations with none linking to me anymore." My mind whirls with adventure and possibilities. "I want to stand on a mountain top and learn how to cook." My hands fold into themselves over my chest. "To see the dancing northern lights and-" I flinch when he touches my shoulder and I turn to him.

Is he taller? He looks taller. I smile, leading him to the bed and I don't hesitate to climb in first and take the spot against the wall. I snuggle down into the blankets and roll over to face him. "I... am still having a hard time believing you are here. That you want me here. I thought I lost everything." I reach for him and it's like he can't resist, doesn't even try as he falls into bed, tucking himself under the covers with me. Any part of him that can, lines up and touches all the parts of me. It's warm and cozy, I wiggle my face closer and loop my arm around his torso.

Shyly, remembering the last time I did this, I dip forward and smell him. He's lovely, and something settles inside, a locking in place, although tears rise and prick at the edges of me. When he snuggles closer I know it's going to be okay. "I'm sorry," he whispers, then he tells me again, breathing me in with an open mouth to the side of my jaw to repeat his apology over and over. "I thought if I could win you the regular way, if I knew you loved me, I thought it would go smoother. I wanted you to want me of your own volition but with how we were arranged, I should have known." He sighs, "I am an idiot."

"No argument here," I joke softly and I like that his chest bounces just enough for me to detect his light, silent laughter. We absorb one another's warmth and I figure he's sleeping with his steady breathing and stillness. Until he hushes across the silences once more, "I'd like a fresh start," he admits. "No forced marriage, just getting to know one another. You can stay wherever you want, but know the Demon Kingdom will be open to you. I'll have a whole wing for you. Fill it with whatever you want."

I shake my head, denying and he nods, accepting it. "Yeah, it's too soon to live together, whatever you'll allow I'll-" I interrupt with, "Just a room, for when I stay with you. I'll share your wing. I don't want to be alone anymore." I admit and he stops moving, "Yeah," he croaks roughly, "okay."

The sun starts to rise and I watch the light slowly start to glow into my room. "Just, one thing," I amend and he tilts his head back to see me. Our eyes meet, barely glinting in the dark but finally open as neither of us are guarded, no more walls between us. "No more lies, not even by omission. Okay?" I whisper and he agrees so fast I smile, it stays as I dip forward to brush my lips to his.

He holds me to him, bending over me as he refuses to part our lips and Meliodas kisses me back, stealing all the air from my lungs and sealing our deal. I'm warm and safe and for the first time the world is at my fingertips, the options before me seemingly limitless. It's then though, that I realize just what kind of power I wield with Meliodas as my mate. What he would do for me if I asked and although daunting, I wonder if that's what Jelamet was truly preparing me for. She did always say I'd shape nations.

"Hm," I hum, pulling Meliodas over my head all the more to make our kiss last seconds longer. "I think I can get used to this," I promise, eyes half-lidded as I look up at him. Even with my fear and all that is before us, "The happiness far outweighs the bad. Doesn't it?" His smile is easy, watery, his green eyes shining with unshed tears as he agrees. His tears fall to my cheeks as he doesn't part from me as he cries. Meliodas nods, his shoulders shaking and chest tense, "Yeah." He breathes across my lips, having a hard time keeping his voice normal. He captures my lips with tenderness, telling me his feelings in a new way. I try to do the same and hope he can feel it as we communicate with our kiss.

_Fin (for now)_


End file.
